Exploring the Interplay of Social Support, Depression, and Quality of Life of Community Older Adults Through Structural Equation Modeling.

Social support (SS) has been widely recognized to have a protective effect influencing older adults' emotional and psychological well-being. This study aimed to determine the relationships of structural SS and functional SS on depression and quality of life among the community-dwelling older adults in the rural and Asian context. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 2324 community older adults aged 60 years and above in Kuala Pilah, Malaysia. Participants were recruited via multistage sampling and interviewed face-to-face. The relationships were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Structural SS was associated with functional SS (ß = 0.05). Only functional SS (having a role, knowing what is going on, and having a confidant) was found to be significantly associated with depression (ß = -0.07) and quality of life (physical component [ß = 0.08], mental component [ß = 0.31]). In summary, functional SS and familial SS should be addressed to reduce depression and improve quality of life among older adults. Community initiatives to increase awareness in optimizing social support should be conducted for quality of life among community older adults.

Health system preparedness in infectious diseases: perspective of Malaysia, a middle-income country, in the face of monkeypox outbreaks.

The World Health Organization declared monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on July 23, 2022. As of July 25th, 2022, there were 16,016 laboratory-confirmed cases reported worldwide with 5 deaths. Malaysia's Health Ministry has developed a five-point strategy to prepare for the impending threat of the infectious disease, encompassing early detection of monkeypox, consolidation of laboratory diagnostic facilities, case management and treatment, cluster management, and strengthening public awareness. Crisis and disaster preparedness within a nation's health system is paramount to preventing disease spread. Various strategies for developing resilience in the face of global infectious disease spread were discussed. The current disease preparedness and response framework and guidelines in Malaysia have established a health system that is proactive and responsive to any potential infectious disease outbreaks. Despite this, the future remains unpredictable, and ongoing fortification is required as events unfold.

Workforce Mobilization From the National Institutes of Health for the Ministry of Health Malaysia: A COVID-19 Pandemic Response.

The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in 2019 has inflicted numerous clinical and public health challenges worldwide. It was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization and activated response teams at almost all Malaysian healthcare facilities. Upon activation of the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Center in January 2020, the National Institutes of Health Malaysia established a COVID-19 operation room at the facility level to address the rise in COVID-19 infection cases each day. The National Institutes of Health COVID-19 operation room committee formed a workforce mobilization team for an effective and efficient mobilization system to fulfill requests received for human resource aid within the Ministry of Health Malaysia facilities. Selected personnel would be screened for health and availability before mobilization letters and logistics arrangements if necessary. The workforce from the National Institutes of Health, consisting of various job positions, were mobilized every week, with each deployment cycle lasting 2 weeks. A total of 128 personnel from the six institutes under the National Institutes of Health were mobilized: tasks included fever screening, active case detection, health management at quarantine centers, and management of dead bodies. A well-organized data management system with a centralized online system integration could allow more rapid deployment and answer some of the key questions in managing a similar pandemic in the future. With improving infected COVID-19 cases throughout the country, the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 operation room was effectively closed on June 15, 2020, following approval from the Deputy Director-General of Health.

Care Recipient Multimorbidity and Health Impacts on Informal Caregivers: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Caregiving outcomes have often been reported in terms of care recipients of single disease, rather than multiple health conditions. A systematic review was conducted to outline caregiving health outcomes and its association with care recipient multimorbidity for informal caregivers of older adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A search strategy was applied in six databases and grey literature. Inclusion criteria were primary observational studies on informal caregiving for care recipients aged 60 years and above, in the English language. Informal caregivers were those not formally hired and multimorbidity referred to presence of at least two health conditions. From a total of 2,101 titles, 230 abstracts were screened, and 19 articles were included. Quality assessment was conducted with application of the Newcastle-Ottawa-Scale. RESULTS: Health-related and caregiving-related outcomes have been assessed for informal caregivers of older adults with multimorbidity. Caregiver subjective burden was most commonly evaluated and often reported to be low to moderate. In association with care recipient multimorbidity, caregiver burden, quality of life, and perceived difficulty in assisting the older adults were examined in 14 of the studies with mixed results. Studies were heterogeneous, with nonuniform definitions of informal caregivers and multimorbidity as well as measurement tools. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This narrative review found that caring for older adults with multimorbidity impacts caregivers, although overall evidence is not conclusive. Despite caregiving-related outcomes being most commonly assessed among the caregivers, particularly subjective burden, findings suggest that it is worthwhile to examine other outcomes to enrich the evidence base.