METHODS: A random convenient sampling methodology was employed for sample selection. A pre-tested 11-item questionnaire was validated on the dental officers. The survey was distributed to 182 GDPs attending the annual Malaysian Dental Association conference in January 2010. The data obtained was statistically analyzed using descriptive analysis and logistic regression was employed to predict the probability of achieving high scores.
RESULTS: A total of 182 general dental practitioners participated in the study, with the majority being female (n=153, 75%). The place of practice significantly affected the knowledge score. In the group that scored more than 80 points (n=84, 46%), 76% of them worked with government hospitals. Age, work duration and number of traumatised teeth previously treated had no significant effect. The odds ratio for place of practice indicates that respondents who work in government hospitals are 3.6 times more likely to score more than 80 points compared to those who worked in private clinics (OR=3.615, P=0.001).
CONCLUSION: The knowledge level on the management of avulsed tooth among general dental practitioners in Malaysia needs to be improved. Strategies in improvement of the Malaysian dental educational system, continuous dental educational activities and utilisation of guidelines on trauma management should be recommended to increase the knowledge level of avulsed tooth management to ensure good treatment outcomes.
CLINICAL IMPLICATION: Trauma prevention and further education regarding the management of avulsed tooth is an essential requirement to improve general dental practitioners knowledge and clinical skills.
Materials and Methods: An unblinded randomized controlled trial was undertaken at the dermatology clinic of a tertiary care hospital. Consent from the patients fulfilling inclusion criteria were obtained, and they were included in this study. They were randomized into two groups, namely Gp-1 (C and P labeling) and Gp-2 (conventional labeling). Both groups were assessed at week 0, 6, and 12 (visit 1, 2, and 3) using knowledge assessment list and psoriasis severity assessment score. For visit 2 (week 6), reinforcement of their understanding of topical treatment was performed.
Results: A total of 101 patients were recruited. Only 91 of them completed the study. The mean ages were 44.52 (±16.61) and 45.49 (±15.84) years, with 70.3% males and approximately half Malay ethnics. The changes of knowledge and comparison of Topical Application Assessment Score between the groups showed an incremental raise of significance with every visit (P = 0.006 [week 1], 0.004 [week 6], and 0.002 [week 12]). Psoriasis Area and Severity Index 75 could not draw any conclusion as patients who achieved >75% improvement were inadequate.
Conclusion: C and P labeling was effective in improving the understanding and knowledge of patients with psoriasis. Both groups showed improvement in body surface area and Dermatology Life Quality Index for every visit; however, it was statistically insignificant.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective online questionnaire based survey was carried out among the pharmacy students about knowledge, attitude perception and practice of antibiotics using 5-point "Likert scale" and true/false responses. The responses range from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and always to never were recorded. The data were analysed by using simple descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: Out of 300 students approached 212 responded and the response rate was found to be 71%. In this study, most (95%) of the students were aware of the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance due to inappropriate use of antibiotics. Majority (89%) of the students agreed the inappropriate use of antibiotics can increase the overall cost of treatment. However, over half of the (54%) students were not aware of the antibiotic resistance that may be a nation-wide problem of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The net positive response (NPR) and net other response (NOR) of all items in perception on antibiotics received more or less equal responses.
CONCLUSION: The knowledge of antibiotics usage among the students are considerably good compared with previous studies. However, the attitude, perception and practice on antibiotics usage among the pharmacy students are very poor. It alarms the need of appropriate education to enlighten antibiotic awareness for the better disease prevention and health outcomes for the benefit of patient community.
Methods: A total of 20 menopausal women were recruited using purposive sampling through social media in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to explore how they perceived their menopausal experience. The data were then analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results: Three themes that emerged from the findings included perceptions of menopause, biopsychosocial changes and help-seeking behavior. For many Muslim women, menopause was perceived as a time for them to engage in religious commitment more than they had before.
Conclusion: The study findings uncovered a knowledge gap and a lack of support for women impacted by menopause. Muslim women regarded their menopause phase as a time for them to engage in religious duty fully. These results indicate the need for a psychosocial intervention and educational program to ensure women a better transition throughout their menopausal phase.
Objective: Our study aimed at assessing the health literacy about cervical cancer amongst the rural women in Udupi district, southern India, before and following intervention using audio-visual aid/face-to-face interactive sessions versus pamphlets alone.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. A total of 166 women participated in the study. Participant groups were allocated into two interventional (Experimental/Control) groups. Participants in the experimental group received education through the video followed by face-to-face interaction with a health educator while those in the control group received a pamphlet. A validated questionnaire was used to assess knowledge about numerous risk factors, Pap smear test and treatment of cervical cancer (pre- and post-intervention test). The findings are presented as frequencies and percentages. Paired responses were compared for individual questions using McNemar test and P < 0.05 was fixed as statistically significant.
Results: Former to the intervention, 13.5% and 19.1% in the experimental and control groups, respectively, felt that personal hygiene was important to prevent cervical cancer. Both the groups had very limited knowledge regarding risk factors (93.6%; 94%), symptoms (96.3%; 97.6%) and knowledge that Pap smears can reduce the risk of cervical cancer (91.7%; 93.9%). The change in knowledge pre-and post-intervention in both groups increased significantly.
Conclusion: Intervention with face-to-face interactive sessions showed a positive impact on knowledge regarding cervical cancer. These findings indicate both methods can be effective in providing health education in the community.
RESULTS: Of the 141 participants, most were mothers (90.8%) and had a full-time job (55.3%). Most of them had adequate medication-related knowledge (71.6%) and an appropriate administration practice (83.0%). The majority of them (83.0%) also rated themselves as adherent to medication administration. The participants with a child above 5 years of age (91.2%) were found to have a better practice than those with younger children (75.3%) in medication administration (p = 0.012). However, those with a child taking two (adjusted OR: 12.53) or three (adjusted OR: 8.29) medications, getting their refills from private health institutions apart from this hospital (adjusted OR = 7.06) and having multiple illnesses (adjusted OR = 21.25) were more likely to be not adherent to medication administration.
CONCLUSION: Caregivers of chronically ill children in Malaysia generally have sufficient knowledge and an appropriate practice of medication administration at home. Yet, strategies to improve the adherence to medication administration, particularly in those who care for children with complicated health conditions, are warranted.
METHODS: A concurrent mixed-method approach was used. In the quantitative strand, a cross-sectional online survey was carried out via a Google form. Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-squared test were used for comparisons. In the qualitative strand, twelve participants were interviewed, based on a semi-structured interview guide and audio recorded. Transcribed data were evaluated with thematic content analysis.
RESULTS: A total of 225 final-year medical students were studied in the quantitative strand. Most were females. The mean score for knowledge was 3.35 ± 0.795 out of six. Of them, 31.6 % of participants scored below 3 points ( 80 %). Only 36.4 % reported "adequate" hand hygiene performance in all eight dimensions of the behavior domain. Noticeably, fewer participants reported to clean their hands after checking blood pressure (55.6 %), and only 66.2 % stated carrying a hand sanitizer in their pocket. Significant correlations were not found between reported behavior and attitudes (p = 0.821) or knowledge (p = 0.794). The qualitative strand with 12 respondents revealed the positive influence of both hierarchical and non-hierarchal role models. Time constraints, skin irritation, and workload pressures were the main barriers. Frequent reminders, supervision, and interactive teaching were suggested as methods to improve hand hygiene compliance. They also stated that increased enthusiasm was noted on hand hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period.
CONCLUSIONS: Most of the participants had positive attitudes towards hand hygiene. Yet, a considerable gap between attitudes and knowledge and reported hand hygiene behavior was evident. Coupling educational programs that use cognitive and behavioral methods, including role modeling, supervision, and frequent reminders, is recommended to bridge the knowledge-attitude-behavior gap.