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Fulltext Changing habits and attitudes towards smoking among future physicians

Tee GH, Noran NH, Farizah H, Azhana NH

Med J Malaysia, 2007 Dec;62(5):383-7.
PMID: 18705471

This study was conducted to asses the future physicians' habits, knowledge and attitude towards smoking. These factors influence the credibility of future Malaysian physicians as advocators and treatment providers. A cross sectional study was carried out among medical students at the Medical Faculty, University Malaya. Knowledge on smoking was evaluated on the total scores for knowledge questions, with one point and zero for each correct and incorrect answer respectively, to a maximum of six potential points. Attitude towards smoking was measured by summation of scores on attitude items; each item was scored from five points for "against smoking" and one point for "favourable to smoking". The possible score ranged from 10 to 50. The response rate was 79.4%. Prevalence of overall smokers was 4.4%. The mean knowledge score among smokers (4.30 +/- 2.17) was significantly lower than nonsmokers (5.19 +/- 1.28). The mean attitude score was higher among non-smokers (44.30 +/- 6.54) than smokers (39.86 +/- 10.93). The result from this study showed that smoking prevalence was lower compared to previous studies done in Malaysia.
Fulltext The 11-item Medication Adherence Reasons Scale: reliability and factorial validity among patients with hypertension in Malaysian primary healthcare settings

Shima R, Farizah H, Majid HA

Singapore Med J, 2015 Aug;56(8):460-7.
PMID: 25902719 DOI: 10.11622/smedj.2015069

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a modified Malaysian version of the Medication Adherence Reasons Scale (MAR-Scale).
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the 15-item MAR-Scale was administered to 665 patients with hypertension who attended one of the four government primary healthcare clinics in the Hulu Langat and Klang districts of Selangor, Malaysia, between early December 2012 and end-March 2013. The construct validity was examined in two phases. Phase I consisted of translation of the MAR-Scale from English to Malay, a content validity check by an expert panel, a face validity check via a small preliminary test among patients with hypertension, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Phase II involved internal consistency reliability calculations and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
RESULTS: EFA verified five existing factors that were previously identified (i.e. issues with medication management, multiple medications, belief in medication, medication availability, and the patient's forgetfulness and convenience), while CFA extracted four factors (medication availability issues were not extracted). The final modified MAR-Scale model, which had 11 items and a four-factor structure, provided good evidence of convergent and discriminant validities. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was > 0.7, indicating good internal consistency of the items in the construct. The results suggest that the modified MAR-Scale has good internal consistencies and construct validity.
CONCLUSION: The validated modified MAR-Scale (Malaysian version) was found to be suitable for use among patients with hypertension receiving treatment in primary healthcare settings. However, the comprehensive measurement of other factors that can also lead to non-adherence requires further exploration.
Fulltext Breast cancer in malaysia: are our women getting the right message? 10 year-experience in a single institution in Malaysia

Taib NA, Yip CH, Ibrahim M, Ng CJ, Farizah H

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2007 Jan-Mar;8(1):141-5.
PMID: 17477791

The message that health care providers caring for patients with breast cancer would like to put forth, is that, not only early detection is crucial but early treatment too is important in ensuring survival. This paper examines the pattern of presentation at a single institution over a 10-year period from 1995 to 2005. In Malaysia, education outreach programmes are ongoing, with contributions not only from the public sector, but also private enterprise. Articles on breast cancer in local newspapers and women magazines and television are quite commonplace. However are our women getting the right message? Now is an appropriate time to bring the stakeholders together to formulate a way to reach all women in Malaysia, not excluding the fact that we are from different races, different education levels and backgrounds requiring differing ways of delivering health promotion messages. To answer the question of why women present late, we prospectively studied 25 women who presented with locally advanced disease. A quantitative, quasi-qualitative study was embarked upon, as a prelude to a more detailed study. Reasons for presenting late were recorded. We also looked at the pattern of presentation of breast lumps in women to our breast clinic in UMMC and in the surgical clinic in Hospital Kota Bharu, in the smaller capital of the state of Kelantan, in 2003. There is hope for the future, the government being a socially responsible one is currently making efforts towards mammographic screening in Malaysia. However understanding of the disease, acceptance of medical treatment and providing resources is imperative to ensure that health behaviour exhibited by our women is not self-destructive but self-preserving. Women are an integral part of not only the nation's workforce but the lifeline of the family - hopefully in the next decade we will see great improvement in the survival of Malaysian women with breast cancer.
Fulltext An evaluation of information dissemination during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak among selected rural communities in Kuala Kangsar

Hazreen AM, Myint Myint S, Farizah H, Abd Rashid M, Chai CC, Dymna VK, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2005 Jun;60(2):180-7.
PMID: 16114158

To assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on SARS and its preventive measures among the rural population of Kuala Kangsar district. This KAP study was also done to identify the expectation and preference of rural population upon obtaining health information. This is a cross-sectional study of 201 households from four villages in Kuala Kangsar. Face-to-face interview was done regarding knowledge, attitude and practice on SARS and its preventive measures. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS (Version 10.0). A scoring system was used to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice towards SARS. Ninety one percent of the study population was aware of SARS. Majority of them have good attitude towards SARS based on the formulated scoring system. Television was found to be the first hand information about SARS and most preferred source of information by the rural population. Knowledge and attitude of respondents concerning SARS were good. Television was found to be the preference among the rural population in obtaining health information.