Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice on Safe Working in Confined Space among Male Water Services Workers in the Central Region of Malaysia.

Employee performance in terms of knowledge of job scope, safe working practices, and safety-related attitude at work are used to measure an organization's success in managing employee welfare and safety to prevent workplace injury and death. This study aims to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice on safe working in confined space among water services workers. A cross-sectional study involving a randomly selected 207 water services workers working in a confined space was performed in the central region of Malaysia. The assessment was performed using a validated Malay self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and Logistic regression were used for data analyses. The study's participants were all men, with a mean (SD) age of 35.2 (8.83) years. The average working duration was 10.8 years. Overall, 67.1% of participants had good knowledge, while 65.7% had a positive attitude. The majority of the workers (60.4%) were found to follow safe working practices. Regression analysis revealed that significant predictors for knowledge were age [Adjusted odds ratio (Adj. OR) 2.793; 95% CI: 1.310, 5.955; p = 0.008] and attitude (Adj. OR 2.127; 95% CI: 1.011, 4.526; p = 0.048). Attitude was influenced by marital status (Adj. OR 4.126; 95% CI: 2.079, 8.186; p < 0.001) and knowledge level (Adj. OR 2.224; 95% CI: 1.025, 4.824; p = 0.043). A positive attitude was the sole predictor influencing the safe practice (Adj. OR; 1.878; 95% CI: 1.041, 3.388; p = 0.036). In conclusion, the workers' levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practices were relatively satisfactory. Extensive investment in workplace safety and health programs, appropriate training, growth opportunities, and effective employee performance evaluation methodologies may assist workers in performing at their best.

Development and Validation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Questionnaire: Toward Safe Working in Confined Spaces.

Confined space workers do a wide range of tasks, many of which have a significant risk of hazardous exposure. Hence, a reliable and valid questionnaire is important in assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of workers in this field. The present study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire that could assess the KAP for safe working in a confined space. The questionnaire went through a development and validation process. The development stage consisted of a literature review, expert's opinion, and evaluation by experts in the field via cognitive debriefing. The validation stage encompassed exploratory and confirmatory parts to investigate the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. A total of 350 participants were recruited among confined space workers from two oil and gas companies in Malaysia. The two-parameter logistic item response theory (2-PL IRT) analysis was used for the knowledge section. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used in the attitude and practice sections of the validation stage. The development stage resulted in 30 items for knowledge, attitude, and practice sections. Items in the knowledge section showed an acceptable difficulty and discrimination, as noted during the 2-PL IRT analysis. The EFA resulted in a one-factor model for attitude and practice sections, and contained 18 items, with factor loading > 0.4. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.804 and 0.917 for attitude and practice sections, respectively. The CFA for attitude and practice sections indicated a good model fitness (Raykov's rho = 0.814 and 0.912, respectively). All items indicated good reliability and valid psychometrics for determining KAP on safe working in a confined space.

Survival Time and Prognostic Factors of Mortality among Patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in North-East Peninsular Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Death resulting from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a worldwide concern. This study is aimed at determining the overall median survival time, and the prognostic factors of mortality among AIDS-infected patients in North-East Peninsular Malaysia. METHODS: In 2018, a retrospective cohort study stretching from January to April was conducted. This study involved a review of data obtained from the National AIDS Registry. A total of 1,073 AIDS cases diagnosed from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014 were selected, and follow-up procedures were conducted until 31 March 2015 (a 3-month follow-up). The Kaplan-Meier plot and Cox's proportional hazard regression were used for data analyses. RESULTS: 564 (52.5%) patients died due to AIDS, while the remaining 509 (47.4%) were censored. The overall median survival time was 11 months. The probability of survival in 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year and 5-year periods were 49.1%, 47.8%, 47.3%, 47.0% and 46.7%, respectively. Multiple Cox regression revealed that the significant prognostic factors were age 30-49 years [adjusted hazard ratio (Adj. HR) 1.57; 95% CI: 1.14, 2.16; P = 0.006], male (Adj. HR 1.39; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.79; P = 0.012), unemployed (Adj. HR 1.40; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.75; P = 0.003) and HIV-TB co-infection (Adj. HR 1.78; 95% CI: 1.37, 2.31; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The overall median survival time among AIDS patients in North-East Peninsular Malaysia was revealed to be short, in comparison to the other studies. The chances for survival can be improved with more emphasis on early detection (to ensure early treatment) and social support, particularly for HIV-TB co-infected patients, as well as for younger and unemployed patients.