Changing Students Valuing of Moral Education: From Pain to Gain: A Case of Curtin University of Technology. Curtin University of Technology, Malaysia.

Everyone recognizes the need for educating youngsters about the importance of moral values, in today‘s complex world. Teaching moral values to youngsters is easy. However, to make them value what they learnt is not. In Malaysia, Moral Education is a subject is introduced in the primary school and is continued further at the university level as a strategy to ensure that all students are able to discern right from wrong and make ethical decisions. The question raised is, how can we ensure that the knowledge acquired form the subject is internalized, with long lasting benefits to them? One approach is to employ a relevant teaching model. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose -implementing a community-based project as a teaching and learning model for Moral Studies, a strategy which facilitates students‘ learning and acquisition of lifelong values. In this study, the students were required to plan and conduct a charity fundraising event on campus with the intention of encouraging them to view themselves as personal-social interactive beings, who are part of the larger community. A total of 70 undergraduate students participated in this study. A qualitative case study approach using questionnaire was used to investigate learning outcomes of this community service approach to teaching and learning. Based on this study, it was concluded that the community work has improved the students‘ learning and in turn, the students‘ valuing of the unit. Most students prefer incorporation of practical activities. They believed that the ethical theories learnt in the classrooms are not sufficient to equip them with the learning of moral and ethics. The findings indicated that the students acquire important moral values from the project such as teamwork, responsibilities, confidence, respect, and appreciation of life .Most students reported that the project enhanced their ability to work in team. This is because the project required the members to be more dependent on the entire group for successfully completing the task

Is generalized trust related to mistrust of university health care centre?

Personal characteristics like gender has been shown to be related to people’s attitude towards medical treatment. A negative attitude towards health care provider can be expressed as mistrust. This paper examines the relationship between personal characteristics (generalized trust, sex including whether the person had obtained treatment at a health care centre) and mistrust to a university health care centre. Survey respondents are 420 university students with age ranging from 18 to 29 (M=21.6, SD=1.26). Both types of trusts were similar between the sexes and between students who had and had not visited the health care centre. The finding reveals that generalized trust is not related to mistrust towards healthcare provider. Further studies are needed to establish the extent to which a domain-specific mis-trust has marginal benefits over a generalized trus

Psychometric properties of the English version of DASS in a sample of Malaysian nurses

The Malay version of DASS (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) had been tested with samples in the general and clinical population in Malaysia. However, this Malay version was found to have lower sub-scales reliabilities than the comparable English version tested in a non-Malaysian sample. Additionally, the translators observed that there are no cultural-specific issues regarding the scale. Therefore, the English version of DASS might be more appropriate to be used in the Malaysian private hospitals where the use of English is widespread. This study examines the original English version of DASS in a sample of 521 nurses in private hospitals in the Klang Valley area. The psychometric properties will be examined using a measurement model in AMOS. The steps involved are examination of the unidimensionality of the subscales, reliability (alpha Cronbach and AVE), and validity (AVE, Fitness Indices, and Modification Indices). The findings are discussed in terms of the use of different languages in psychological testing