METHODOLOGY: A qualitative case study approach was used to explore and understand how doctors volunteering online balances between work and family in a Health Virtual Community called DoktorBudak.com (DB). A total of seventeen (17) doctors were interviewed using either face-to-face, Skype, phone interview or through email.
RESULTS: The results of this study suggested that doctors perceived the physical border at their workplace as less permeable though the ICT has freed them from the restriction to perform other non-related work (such as online volunteering (OV) works) during working hours. In addition, doctors OV use ICTs to perform work at home or during working hours, they perceive their work and family borders as flexible. Furthermore, the doctors used different strategies when it came to blending, whether to segment or integrate their work and family domains.
CONCLUSION: This study has defined issues on work-family balance and OV. Most importantly this study had discussed the conceptual framework of work-family balance focusing on doctors volunteering online and how they have incorporated ICTs such as Internet technology to negotiate the work-family boundaries, which are permeable, flexible and blending.
METHODS: This is a multi-centre cross-sectional study involving patients undergoing haemodialysis treatment in Malaysia. A validated face-to-face questionnaire-based interview was conducted. Sociodemographic and clinical profiles of the patients, factors associated with TCM use, perceptions, sources of information, and disclosures to treating doctors were obtained. Data were analysed using SPSS software.
RESULTS: A total of n = 329 participants were recruited. The mean age of the participants was 54.9 ± 12.5 years. The majority were Malays (72%) and females (54.7%). A total of 64.7% (n = 213) reported TCM use; n = 132 used TCM before the initiation of dialysis, while n = 81 used TCM after initiation. In the post-hoc analysis, patients who had never used TCM had a higher mean age (56.7 ± 12.3 years) than the patients who used TCM (51.1 ± 13.1) (p = 0.015) and were likely to have received primary education (p = 0.011). Unemployment was more likely to be associated with non-TCM use; with odds ratio 1.85 (95% CI: 1.15, 2.98). Biologically based therapy was found to be the most popular (97.2%) type of TCM, including herbal medicine (67.6%) and supplements (58.0%). Most respondents did not disclose their TCM use to their doctors (72.3%), and 41.8% had the perception that they felt better.
CONCLUSIONS: TCM is widely used among chronic haemodialysis patients in Malaysia, mainly herbal medicine and supplements. Non-disclosure to healthcare professionals and a poor monitoring and regulation of its use in ESKD patients could be detrimental. Awareness needs to be raised among healthcare professionals and the general population.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Ethics Committee for Research, University Putra Malaysia (13th March 2019). Reference: UPM/TNCPI/RMC/1.4.18.2 ( JKEUPM ).