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It has been 2 years since the first outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, and continuous efforts and measures have been exerted and implemented to halt its spread, such as the introduction of vaccination programs. However, as with the consumption of other products and services, some people hold different beliefs, consequently affecting their attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination. Thus, vaccine unwillingness and hesitancy remain an enormous concern for many countries. This paper explores the effects of anxiety, individual resilience, and conspiracy beliefs on attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines among the population of Malaysia--with a focus on Muslim individuals. We used survey data from 438 respondents (205 male, 233 female) to assess the research model. To conduct the multi-group analysis, we used partial least square structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 3. The results suggest that anxiety is positively associated with COVID-19 vaccination attitudes, whereas conspiracy beliefs have an inverse effect on vaccination attitudes, while an individual's resilience is also positively associated with vaccination attitudes. Furthermore, it is found that the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and vaccination attitudes is weakened for an individual with a higher level of resilience. The findings also reveal the differences and similarities between males and females. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to simultaneously explore and demonstrate the effects of COVID-19-related anxiety, conspiracy beliefs and resilience with people's attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines and to examine the homogeneity of both males and females--especially among Malaysia's Muslim population--thereby offering a valuable contribution to the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral cancer is a significant public health concern worldwide. Early detection and prevention are crucial in reducing the morbidity and mortality rates associated with this disease. As future dental professionals, dental undergraduates play a vital role in promoting oral health and identifying potential oral cancer cases. Methods: This study aimed to evaluate the level of oral cancer awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and practices among dental undergraduates in Malaysia. A total of 595 students from years 3, 4, and 5 in both public and private universities participated. Results: The results showed that a higher percentage of dental undergraduates from private universities were aware of oral cancer and had satisfactory knowledge compared to those from public universities (p < 0.05). Moreover, 59.4% of respondents felt less confident in diagnosing oral cancer during routine dental practice, and 96.1% agreed on the need to increase public awareness of oral health. Interestingly, students from private universities exhibited higher levels of awareness and knowledge regarding oral cancer than those from public universities. Conclusions: To enhance oral cancer detection and prevention, it is essential to reinforce the current curriculum and provide training to improve diagnostic skills for every dental undergraduate. This will ensure that they are well-equipped with the necessary knowledge and competence to detect and prevent oral cancer effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the extent to which Malaysian and Thai smokers believe "light" and menthol cigarettes are less harmful than "regular" cigarettes and the correlates of these beliefs. The study used data from wave 1 of the International Tobacco Control Southeast Asia Survey. 2006 adult smokers (95.3% male) from Malaysia and 2000 adult smokers (94.5% male) from Thailand were interviewed face to face in 2005. 29% of Malaysian respondents reported currently smoking light cigarettes and 14% menthols, with 19% agreeing that lights are less harmful and 16% agreeing that menthols are less harmful. 38% of Thai respondents reported currently smoking light cigarettes and 19% menthols, with 46% agreeing that lights are less harmful and 35% agreeing that menthols are less harmful. Malaysian smokers reporting current use of light or menthol cigarettes were more likely to believe that they are less harmful. Reported use of lights did not relate to beliefs for Thai respondents. The belief that light and/or menthol cigarettes are less harmful was strongly related to the belief that they have smoother smoke. The experience of smoother smoke is likely to produce some level of belief in reduced harm, regardless of how brands are labelled and whether or not Federal Trade Commission FTC/International Organisation for Standardisation tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yield figures are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Medical emergencies occur at a rate of one in 604‒753 flights. Doctors travelling on commercial flights may encounter an in-flight medical emergency requiring their assistance. There is a paucity of studies on how confident primary care doctors are in managing in-flight medical emergencies. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, confidence and attitude of primary care doctors in managing in-flight medical emergencies.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on all primary care doctors working in government health clinics in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from October 2016 to November 2016. A self-reported questionnaire was used, which included questions on demographic information, knowledge of in-flight medicine, and the attitude and confidence of primary care doctors in managing in-flight medical emergencies.Results: 182 doctors completed the questionnaire (92.9% response rate). The mean knowledge score was 8.9 out of a maximum score of 20. Only 11.5% of doctors felt confident managing in-flight medical emergencies. The majority (69.2%) would assist in an in-flight medical emergency, but the readiness to assist was reduced if someone else was already helping or if they were not familiar with the emergency. Total knowledge score was positively associated with confidence in managing in-flight medical emergencies (p = 0.03).Conclusion: Only one in ten primary care doctors in this study felt confident managing in-flight medical emergencies. A higher total knowledge score of in-flight medical emergencies was positively associated with greater confidence in managing them. Educational programmes to address this gap in knowledge may be useful to improve doctors' confidence in managing in-flight medical emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast and colorectal cancer are the two most common cancers in Malaysia. Low awareness coupled with stigma and erroneous beliefs delay help-seeking behaviours, lead to late presentation and contribute to poor detection rates. Promoting cancer awareness through mass media may be effective in improving cancer-related knowledge and uptake in screening tests. However, research is sparse regarding the cultural translation and implementation of mass media campaigns in Malaysia (and Asia) in terms of raising awareness about colorectal and breast cancer.Methods: A collaborative partnership comprising researchers from Malaysia and the UK as well as policy makers, public health experts and non-government organisations from Malaysia was formed to design, deliver and evaluate the Be Cancer Alert Campaign. Each awareness-raising campaign will run for five weeks (Colorectal Cancer in April 2018, followed by Breast Cancer in October 2018). Evaluation of the campaigns will take place in Gombak district (Colorectal Cancer) and Petaling district (Breast Cancer) respectively, in the form of a pre-post randomly selected household survey and collection of service utilisation data. Occupants who are aged 40-years and above and are able to answer questions independently will be selected from each household. A sample of 730 with 80% power will detect a change of 6.09% in knowledge that unexplained lump or swelling is a symptom of breast cancer or changes in bowel habits is a symptom of colorectal cancer.Discussion: Malaysia and most South-East Asian countries have a low middle-income economy, with limited resources for cancer control. Late-staged cancers impose a significant economic burden on patients, households, communities, employers, health systems and governments. Our proposed strategy for the implementation of the culturally sensitive mass media cancer awareness-raising campaign will serve as a blueprint for cancer prevention and control policy in South-East Asian countries where the burden of cancer is increasing and there are high cancer death rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To improve pharmaceutical care delivery in Malaysia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) had introduced the concept of value added services (VAS). Despite its reported convenience and advantages, VAS utilization rate is low in the country. The study aims to explore patients’ understanding, beliefs and expectations towards VAS in Malaysia using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as the theoretical model. Methods: A qualitative methodology was used whereby face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 12 patients who collected partial medicine supplies from government pharmacies. Participants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling method in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Interviews were audio‐recorded. Verbatim transcription and thematic content analysis were performed on the data. Results: Thematic content analysis yielded five major themes: (i) attitudes towards using VAS, (ii) subjective norms, (iii) perceived behavioural control, (iv) lack of knowledge and understanding of VAS and (v) expectations towards VAS. Conclusion: The interviews explored and informed new information about salient beliefs towards pharmacy VAS. The findings suggest that VAS is still in its infancy and a more robust and effective advertising and marketing campaign is needed to boost the adoption rate. Behavioural attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control elements were discussed and serve as important variables of interest in future study. Expectations towards VAS serve as an important guideline to further improve patient‐oriented services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over the past two decades, the population of Malaysia has grown rapidly and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia has dramatically increased, along with the frequency of obesity, hyperlipidaemia and hypertension. Early-life influences play an important role in the development of non-communicable diseases. Indeed, maternal lifestyle and conditions such as gestational diabetes mellitus or obesity can affect the risk of diabetes in the next generation. Lifestyle changes can help to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This is a protocol for an unblinded, community-based, randomised controlled trial in two arms to evaluate the efficacy of a complex behavioural change intervention, combining motivational interviewing provided by a community health promoter and access to a habit formation mobile application, among young Malaysian women and their spouses prior to pregnancy. Method/design: Eligible subjects will be Malaysian women in the age group 20 to 39 years, who are nulliparous, not diagnosed with diabetes and own a smartphone. With an alpha-value of 0.05, a statistical power of 90 %, 264 subjects will need to complete the study. Subjects with their spouses will be randomised to either the intervention or the control arm for an 8-month period. The primary endpoint is change in waist circumference from baseline to end of intervention period and secondary endpoints are changes in anthropometric parameters, biochemical parameters, change in health literacy level, dietary habits, physical activity and stress level. Primary endpoint and the continuous secondary endpoints will be analysed in a linear regression model, whereas secondary endpoints on an ordinal scale will be analysed by using the chi-squared test. A multivariate linear model for the primary endpoint will be undertaken to account for potential confounders. This study has been approved by the Medical Research and Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health Malaysia (protocol number: NMRR-14-904-21963) on 21 September 2015. Discussion: This study protocol describes the first community-based randomised controlled trial, to examine the efficacy of a complex intervention in improving the pre-pregnancy health of young Malaysian women and their spouses. Results from this trial will contribute to improve policy and practices regarding complex behavioural change interventions to prevent diabetes in the pre-conception period in Malaysia and other low- and middle-income country settings. Trial Registration: This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) on 30 November 2015, Identifier: NCT02617693 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pap smear is a very cost-effective screening to detect cervical abnormalities especially for high-risk target populations but many women are still lacking the appropriate understanding of the test. The objectives of this paper were to examine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice on Pap smear among women in reproductive age group in a district of mixed rural and urban Malay population in Malaysia. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional survey of women attending antenatal clinic and outpatient clinic in Pasir Mas District of Kelantan done in December 2006. A total of 100 respondents were interviewed and data was collected through questionnaires form. Results: Only seventy eight percent of the respondents have ever heard about the Pap smear, out of which slightly less than 50% of them have good knowledge scores while another 52% have good attitude. The most popular source of Pap smear information was through health staff (84.6%) followed by electronic media (53.8%) and friends (47.4%). Sixty four percent of the respondents have undergone Pap smear test and majority of them (92.2%) cited the advice from medical staff as the reasons for undergoing the test. Women of higher educational level and household income were significantly having higher knowledge scores on Pap smear. The respondents' attitude on Pap smear was also significantly associated with their educational level. There was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (r = 0.25, P = 0.013) but both knowledge and attitude on Pap smear were not significantly correlated with their practice. Conclusion: The findings of the study indicate the need for strengthened patient education programs and public health strategies on Pap smear practice especially among women of lower educational level and household income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE : To identify the level of knowledge among men on Pap smear screening as well as their attitude towards their spouse seeking Pap smear screening. Specifically, the paper hopes to uncover men's knowledge on the purpose, procedure, frequency, and eligibility about Pap smear screening. In addition, it also explores the impact of men's attitude on their spouse Pap smear screening seeking behavior. METHODS : The study employs mainly in-depth semi structured interview to collect data, 91 respondents from the northern region of Malaysia participated. The respondents were divided into six groups: (a) women who were screened normal (n=18); (b) women who had never been screened (n=12); (c) women detected with precursor lesions (n=16); (d) women infected with cancer of cervix (n=16); (e) healthcarers (n=11); (and (f) men (n=18). The men respondents include spouses to some women respondents of the four subgroups. RESULTS : Analysis of the data shows that majority of the men respondents espoused that they have heard of Pap smear screening. Some were able to state to some extent the reasons for doing Pap smear which included detection of cancer and other female diseases. However, their knowledge level about the procedure, frequency is generally low, and in terms of the eligibility, the responses seemed to vary. Generally they mentioned that all women between the ages of 15 to post menopausal must go for Pap smear and they tend to have a misconception on eligibility and practices of Pap smear. CONCLUSION : In terms of attitudes, these men respondents seemed to display positive encouragement towards their spouse's decision making on Pap smear screening. As a result, there are serious direct and indirect implications on women seeking Pap smear screening and consequently the importance of men's involvement in spouse seeking Pap smear screening as an early diagnosis of cervical cancer will be further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Majority of patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, receive care at primary care setting. Efforts have been made to restructure diabetes care in the Malaysian primary care setting in accordance with the Chronic Care Model (CCM). The Patient Assessment on Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) is a validated self-report tool to measure the extent to which patients with chronic illness receive care that aligns with the CCM. To date, no validated tool is available to evaluate healthcare delivery based on the CCM in the Malay language. Thus, the study aimed to translate the PACIC into the Malay language and validate the questionnaire among patients with diabetes in the Malaysian public primary care setting. Methods: The English version of the PACIC questionnaire is a 20-item scale measuring five key components, which are patient activation, decision support, goal setting, problem solving and follow-up care. The PACIC underwent forward - backward translation and cross cultural adaptation process to produce the PACIC-Malay version (PACIC-M). Reliability was tested using internal consistencies and test-retest reliability analyses, while construct validity was tested using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The content of PACIC-M and the original version were conceptually equivalent. Overall, the internal consistency by Cronbach's α was.94 and the intra-class correlation coefficient was.93. One item was deleted (item 1) when the factor loading was < 0.4. The factor analyses using promax identified three components ('Goal Setting/Tailoring and Problem solving/Contextual', 'follow-up/coordination' and 'patient activation and delivery system design/ decision support'); explaining 61.2% of the variation. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was 0.93 and Bartlett's test of sphericity was p =.000. Therefore, the final version of the PACIC-M consisted of 19 items, framed within three components. Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that the PACIC-M measured different dimensions from the English version of PACIC. It is however; highly reliable and valid to be used in assessing three CCM model subscales. Further confirmatory factor analysis of PACIC-M should be conducted to confirm this new model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]