ABSTRACT
Background: Dengue fever is endemic in Malaysia and continues to be a public health concern. Selangor was the top hit and there is a paucity of information on knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of Bandar Baru Bangi residents regarding dengue infection. Therefore, the objective of this study is to describe dengue related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of residents of Bandar Baru Bangi.Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 152 residents from Section 3 and Section 8, Bandar Baru Bangi attending the dengue awareness events was conducted. The information on socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and their knowledge, attitude and practice on dengue fever was collected using a structured questionnaire.Results: The results showed that the residents only 52% had sufficient knowledge about the dengue vectors, signs, symptoms, and modes of transmission. However, approximately all the respondents considered dengue as serious but preventable disease to which they are vulnerable to. Television/radio was the predominant sources of information about dengue fever. Knowledge on dengue is associated with prevention practice. But the self-efficacy has a significant impact between the owner and tenant house (p=0.010, p<0.05). Female has higher self-efficacy compare to male.Conclusions: As conclusion, findings suggest that despite the residents of Bandar Baru Bangi have moderate knowledge level about dengue fever nevertheless; they still adopted the preventive measures suggested by the guidelines from Ministry of Health. Therefore, health program planners and practitioners need to identify why the dengue fever still rampant among the population.
ABSTRACT
Literature data on association between physical activity (PA) and health related quality of life (HRQoL) in non-clinical adults population are still limited. Thereby, the objective of this study was to evaluate the association between PA and HRQoL among the non-academic staff serving the Faculty of Health Sciences (FSK), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur (KL). In this cross sectional study, 105 non-academic staffs aged between 18 to 60 years were recruited. Self-administered questionnaires (Malay version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and World Health Organisation Quality of Life-Brief Version) were administered among the participants. Mann Whitney test and Spearman’s rho correlation were employed for the statistical analysis using SPSS version 22.0 Majority of participants (72.4%) demonstrated high PA scores of ≥ 3000 MET-minutes/week. PA scores between genders was not statistically significant (p = 0.137). However, total PA score of support staffs (median = 9039.0, IQR = 15811.00) was significantly higher compared to staffs in management and professional group (median = 4329.0, IQR = 4189.00). The mean(SD) self-perceived HRQoL score was 3.4 (0.76). There were no significant correlation between PA and all domains of HRQoL such as physical health, psychological, social relationship and environmental domains (Correlation coefficient, ρ = -0.108, 0.003, -0.023, 0.026 respectively) with p = 0.273, 0.978, 0.818, 0.794 respectively. Majority of non-academic staffs of FSK, UKM engaged in high physical activity. The PA levels of support staffs were significantly higher than management and professional staffs. However, there was no statistically significant correlation observed between PA and domains of HRQoL.