The Malay Literacy of Suicide Scale: A Rasch Model Validation and Its Correlation with Mental Health Literacy among Malaysian Parents, Caregivers and Teachers.

The 27-item Literacy of Suicide Scale (LOSS) is a test designed to measure the respondent's suicide knowledge. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Malay-translated version of the LOSS (M-LOSS) and its association to sociodemographic factors and mental health literacy. The 27-item LOSS was forward-backward translated into Malay, and the content and face validities were assessed. The version was distributed to 750 respondents across West Malaysia. Rasch model analysis was then conducted to assess the scale's psychometric properties. The validated M-LOSS and the Malay version of the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS-M) were then distributed to 867 respondents to evaluate their level of suicide literacy, mental health literacy, and their correlation. Upon Rasch analysis, 26 items were retained. The scale was found to be unidimensional, with generally satisfying separation and reliability indexes. Sex, socio-economic status, and experience in mental health were found to significantly impact the mean score for mental health literacy. This study also found a significant mean difference for suicide literacy across school types. Furthermore, while this study observed a weak but significant negative correlation between age and suicide literacy, no correlation was found between mental health and suicide literacy.

Development and Validation of a Malay Version of the Questionnaire on Pornography Attitudes and Exposure for Youth in Kelantan.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study is to develop and validate the Malay version of the questionnaire assessing the extent of pornography exposure (PORQUE) among youth in Kelantan. METHODS: 'Youth' was defined as a person aged between 15 and 24 years, while 'pornography' refers to any material that depicts sexual activity or erotic behaviour. The development phase consisted of a literature review, an expert panel review, face validation and a pre-test. Fifty college students from a randomly selected higher learning institutions were invited to participate in the pilot test, whereas 150 and 198 different students from the same institutions participated in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), respectively. RESULTS: EFA suggested a five-factor solution with factor loadings ranging from 0.449 to 0.891 and a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.904 to 0.966. The CFA of the attitude questions also proved a good fitting model with good fit indices: comparative fit index (CFI) robust = 0.907; Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI) robust = 0.901; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) robust = 0.073; standardised root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.060. The factor loadings ranged from 0.544 to 0.906, whereas the Raykov's rho ranged from 0.886 - 0.974. CONCLUSION: Based on EFA and CFA, the attitude sections of the newly developed Malay version of the PORQUE were found to be psychometrically valid.

A Reliability Study of the Malay Version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health's Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire among Adolescents Attending Health Clinics in Northeastern Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: The need for client feedback in assessing healthcare services is widely recognized. However, little is known about the satisfaction of adolescent clients utilizing healthcare services in Malaysia. To the best of our knowledge, there is no validated instrument to measure the satisfaction of adolescent clients attending health clinics in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the reliability of the Malay version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health's Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire among adolescents attending health clinics in northeastern Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2019 among adolescents aged 10-19 years attending four designated health clinics in the northeastern state of Peninsular Malaysia. The test for Cronbach's α was performed to determine the internal consistency reliability. RESULTS: There were a total of 85 adolescent clients involved in this study. The mean age of respondents was 15.6 years. The majority of respondents were female, Malay, students, and had attained a secondary level of education. The mean total satisfaction score was 78.35. The internal consistency reliability according to the Cronbach's α of the domain was 0.854, which is considered highly reliable. The corrected item-total correlation for the domain was acceptable as it was ≥0.4. CONCLUSION: The Malay version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health's Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire has excellent internal consistency reliability. Therefore, it may be recommended as a tool to measure the satisfaction level among adolescents attending health clinics in Malaysia.

Perceived Stress and Coping Styles among Malay Caregivers of Children with Learning Disabilities in Kelantan.

BACKGROUND: Caregivers of children with learning disabilities have been shown to experience increased stress and greater negative caregiving consequences than those with typically developing children. There remains a lack of studies focusing on stress and coping mechanisms among caregivers of a wider age group and diagnosis of individuals with disabilities in Asian countries. The current study examines levels of perceived stress and associated child and caregiver factors among caregivers of children with learning disabilities in the Malaysian context. An additional aim was to determine whether caregiver coping styles may be predictors of perceived stress. METHODS: The Malay version of the Perceived Stress Scale with 10 items and the Brief COPE Scale were administered to a sample of 190 Malay caregivers of children with learning disabilities registered with community-based rehabilitation centres in Kelantan, a state in Peninsular Malaysia. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to determine the predictors of perceived stress. RESULTS: The mean total perceived stress score of caregivers was 16.96 (SD = 4.66). The most frequently used coping styles found among caregivers included religion, acceptance and positive reframing, while substance use and behavioural disengagement were least frequently used. Higher perceived stress was significantly predicted among caregivers with fewer children, frequent use of instrumental support and behavioural disengagement coping, and lack of emotional support and religious coping. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that the perceived stress levels among caregivers were significantly predicted by different coping styles. It is vital to help the caregivers improve their good coping styles in order to reduce their stress levels.

The impact of children with disabilities on parent health-related quality of life and family functioning in Kelantan and its associated factors.

OBJECTIVES: Caring for children with disabilities brings about a significant impact on the parents and families. The purposes of this study were to determine the impact of having children with disabilities on parents' health-related quality of life (HRQOL), family functioning, and total family impact and to identify the associated factors. METHOD: A total of 425 parents/caregivers of children with disabilities who were registered to community-based rehabilitation centers in 5 districts in Kelantan, Malaysia, participated in this study. The Malay version of PedsQL Family Impact Module was used as research instrument. General linear regression was applied to analyze the association between family impact scores (Total Impact, Parent HRQOL Summary, and Family Functioning Summary) and study factors using Stata/SE 11 software. RESULTS: The mean (SD) Total Impact Score and Parent HRQOL Summary Score of the parents/caregivers was 75.1 (16.85) and 75.0 (18.74) respectively, and the median (IQR) of Family Functioning Summary Score was 84.4 (28.13). Mothers, non-Malays, and widowed parents/caregivers, parents/caregivers having male children with disabilities, and children with more complex disability had significantly lower parent HRQOL and family functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Both parents/caregivers' characteristics and children's characteristics contributed to family impact in local setting. Results of this study emphasize the importance of the whole family involvement as the focus of services and supports by health care providers.

Comparison of antimicrobial resistance in neonatal and adult intensive care units in a tertiary teaching hospital.

Intrahospital variations in antimicrobial profiles may be related to many factors. This study compared causative agents of nosocomial bloodstream infections between a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that adopted a ward-tailored antibiotic policy and adult intensive care units (ICUs). Data on organisms from blood cultures obtained from the respective wards between 2005 and 2009 were analyzed. Compared with the adult ICUs, the NICU had a higher frequency of Enterobacteriacae and lower frequencies of typical hospital-acquired pathogens (eg, Klebsiella pneumoniae, 17.4% vs 10.0% [P < .001]; Acinetobacter baumannii, 3.9% vs 11.6% [P < .001]). Antibiotic resistance of gram-negative organisms was also significantly lower in the NICU, including resistance to imipenem (5.7% vs 32.1%; P < .001), amikacin (8.8% vs 30.3%), and ceftriaxone (36.1% vs 74.6%; P < .001). This could possibly be due to the ward-tailored antibiotic policy adopted by the NICU but not by the other ICUs.

A Preliminary Study on the Reliability of the Malay Version of PedsQL™ Family Impact Module among Caregivers of Children with Disabilities in Kelantan, Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: No previous study has assessed the impact of childhood disability on parents and family in the context of Malaysia, and no instrument to measure this impact has previously been available. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the reliability of a Malay version of the PedsQL™ Family Impact Module that measures the impact of children with disabilities (CWD) on their parents and family in a Malaysian context. METHODS: The study was conducted in 2009. The questionnaire was translated forward and backward before it was administered to 44 caregivers of CWD to determine the internal consistency reliability. The test for Cronbach's alpha was performed. RESULTS: The internal consistency reliability was good. The Cronbach's alpha for all domains was above 0.7, ranging from 0.73 to 0.895. CONCLUSION: The Malay version of the PedsQL™ Family Impact Module showed evidence of good internal consistency reliability. However, future studies with a larger sample size are necessary before the module can be recommended as a tool to measure the impact of disability on Malay-speaking Malaysian families.

Women's attitude and sociodemographic characteristics influencing usage of herbal medicines during pregnancy in Tumpat District, Kelantan.

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy is associated with women's attitudes towards herbal medicines and their sociodemographic features, such as age, education level, and income. Two-hundred ten women (110 "users," 100 "non-users") were studied. The probability of using herbal medicines among women who had negative attitudes towards the use of herbal medicines was 50.0% less compared to those who had positive attitudes (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.29 - 0.92). Women who had a positive attitude towards the safety of herbal medicines were less likely to use herbal medicines during pregnancy. There were no significant associations between usage and sociodemographic features, such as age, income, race, and education.

Prevalence and pattern of use of herbal medicines during pregnancy in tumpat district, kelantan.

The objective of this cross-sectional study is to determine the prevalence and pattern of herbal medicines use during pregnancy among women in Tumpat district, Kelantan. A total of 210 mothers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. There were 108 mothers (51.4%) who used at least one type of herbal medicines during pregnancy. The most common herbal medicines used (63.9%) was coconut oil which was ingested during the third trimester of pregnancy only. The most common indication was (89.8%) to facilitate labour. The majority of users (79.6%) used herbal medicines during the third trimester of pregnancy only. Many of them (81.5%) believed that herbal medicines were effective to solve their health problems and fulfilled the indications for use. The older generation like parents and in laws (63.9%) were the most common persons who suggested using herbal medicines. The majority of them used the herbs only once (56.5%) and one type (87.0%) throughout the pregnancy. Further research focusing on local commonly used herbal medicines is to be carried out to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the herbs.