Introduction: Dyslexia, which is a learning disability that affects many aspects of children’s development, has a prevalence of 5 – 17%, worldwide. There are many negative perceptions towards children with dyslexia, and one of it is when there is lack of teachers’ knowledge about this problem. Aim: The objective of this study is to develop and discuss on a newly developed module on dyslexia, i.e. Dyslexia Health Education Module (DHEM) for preschool teachers, Method: This module is developed using the ADDIE model (A-Analysis, D-De- sign, D-Develop, I- Implement, E-Evaluate). The content of DHEM consists of general information for pre-school teachers about dyslexia, identification and intervention for dyslexia among children as well as its mental health implications. Results: The newly developed module was found to have a good content validity with a score of 0.7 when evaluated by eight expert panels from respective fields. The Cronbach alpha’s value for reliability test was 0.90. These findings suggest that this module is good, reliable and applicable. Discussion: It is hoped that with the development of DHEM, this would increase teachers’ knowledge on dyslexia among children in Malaysia, especially in recognizing at-risk children and consequently may lead to early intervention in managing the problem. This study also suggests that future longitudinal studies should be carried out using this module to ensure its effectiveness in the long run.
Objective: Family Environment Scale (FES) is one of the most widely used instruments to measure many family aspects. Cross cultural adaptation of the original FES is essential prior to local utilization as different cultures percept their family environments differently. We attempted to translate the FES into the Bahasa Malaysia language for adolescents, evaluate its reliability using internal consistency and compare its results with the original
study. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, involving adolescents aged 12-17 from four secondary schools. The adolescents were selected using quota sampling for different age, ethnic and academic performance. The study was divided into four phases, namely: i) translation of FES, ii) pilot test iii) internal consistency reliability test and iv) comparison of the study results with the original FES. Results: A total of 295 adolescents participated in this study. All of the reliability measurements generated (ranged between Cronbach’s alpha 0.10 - 0.70) were lower than those originally reported for this instrument (ranged between Cronbach’s alpha 0.61 -0.78). Five subscales in the Bahasa Malaysia version were found to be less than Cronbach’s alpha 0.5, which were below the acceptable level for practical or research use. There was considerable variation observed between the sample population of this study and that of the original study, which could be due to the social cultural differences. Conclusion: The Bahasa Malaysia version of FES requires further culturally
appropriate revision. A new measuring scale could also be devised to provide an accurate evaluation of the family environment as perceived by Malaysian adolescents, which has acceptable levels of reliability and validity.
Introduction: Teachers play a vital role in identifying students with dyslexia. The acquisition of this knowledge will help teachers to classify students who are at risk of dyslexia. The objective of this study is to identify the level of teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia that comprises of its general knowledge, diagnosis, symptoms and treatments. A cross sectional study was done upon 138 preschool teachers. This research was conducted by using ‘Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia’ questionnaire, which consists of 36 items with 3 Likert scale questions. Findings revealed that the level of general knowledge possessed by the pre-school teachers was relatively different based on the construct even though they have respectively received the Diploma in Early Childhood Education. On the same hand, most of the respondents were found to be having higher understanding on the general knowledge about dyslexia compared to their understanding on the symptoms, diagnosis and the treatments.
Identifying clinical features that differentiate acute febrile thrombocytopaenia from acute febrile illness without thrombocytopaenia can help primary care physician to decide whether to order a full blood count (FBC). This is important because thrombocytopaenia in viral fever may signify more serious underlying aetiology like dengue infection.
A 7-year-old boy with a diagnosis of advanced medulloblastoma refractory to treatment was discharged from hospital for further palliative care at home. During this short and eventful period, the child developed spinal cord compression with progressive weakness of upper and lower limbs, neck pain, faecal and urinary incontinence. This case highlights the important roles of a primary care doctor in the provision of palliative care for a child in the community.
Adolescent smoking is an emerging health concern in the developing countries. A cross-sectional study is conducted to determine the prevalence and smoking behaviour of adolescents in Sarawak. The prevalence of smoking is 32.8% with mean age of initiation at 12.8±1.9 years. Most (67.2%) adolescents are experimental smokers and the majority (67.9%) did not smoke on a daily basis. Branded cigarettes are preferred (83.1%) and the cigarettes are obtained either from friends (49.1%) or self purchased (43.6%). Students prefer to smoke at their friend’s house (31.0%) or at school (25.3%). Smoking prevalence among adolescents in Sarawak is high and begins early. Early intervention on smoking prevention and risk awareness is perhaps more effective if initiated before the age of 12 years.
OBJECTIVE: To study the barriers toward the utilization of primary care services for mental health problems among adolescents in a secondary school in Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in July 2008 at a secondary school in Hulu Langat, Selangor. The respondents were selected using randomised cluster sampling among Form Four and Form Five students. Students were given self-administered questionnaire, consisting socio-demographic data and questions on their help-seeking barrier and behaviour. Help-seeking behaviour questions assess the use of medical facility and help-seeking sources. The formal help-seeking sources include from teachers, counsellors and doctors. The informal help-seeking sources include from friends, parents and siblings.
RESULTS: A total of 175 students were included in the study. None of the students admitted of using the primary health care services for their mental health problems. Majority of the students were not aware of the services availability in the primary health care (97.1%). More than half of them thought the problems were due to their own mistakes (55.4%) and the problems were not that serious (49.1%). With regard to perception of the primary health care services, (43.2%) of the students were worried about confidentiality, half of them were concerned about other people's perception especially from their family members (44.6%) and friends (48.6%). Minority of them (10.8%) thought that nobody can help them. Few of them thought smoking (3.4%), alcohol (3.4%) and recreational drugs (1.1%) can solve their emotional problems.
CONCLUSION: One of the major barriers identified in the students' failure to use the health care facilities was their unawareness of the availability of the service for them in the community. Thus there is a need to promote and increase their awareness on this issue.
Choosing a course to pursue is an important decision for students to make. A suitable career should correspond to the students’ personalitiy for future work satisfaction and success. The objectives of this study were to determine the students’ reasons for choosing medicine, their personality traits and aptitude (suitability). This was a cross-sectional study involving all third-year medical students at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was used, which included questions on demographic data, Sidek Career Interest Inventory and reasons for choosing medicine. The inventory was used to measure the students’ personality traits and career suitability. A total of 80 students participated in the study. Majority of them were females (n=56, 70.0%). The findings showed that 45.7% (n=44) of the repondents chose medicine because of ‘passion and interest’, while 24.7% (n=20) and 19.8% (n=16) because of ‘parental influence’ and ‘to help the society’, respectively. For medicine, two personality traits are essential which are investigative and social personality traits. Approximately, 47.5% (n=38) of the respondents had high scores in investigative personality trait. However, only 13.8% (n=11) of them had high scores in social personality trait. Only 12.5% (n=10) of the students had high scores when combining both of the traits. Majority of the students chose medicine for altruistic reasons. However, only a few of them had suitable aptitude for this course namely investigative and social skill. Therefore, the students and the teachers need to be aware of these issues and cultivate the required skills in the students for better career outcome.
This case report illustrates an adolescent with clinical presentation of moderate anorexia nervosa with no significant co-morbidities. It highlights the management of anorexia nervosa in the outpatient setting by a multi-disciplinary health care team which includes a family physician, a dietician, a psychologist and a child psychiatrist.