ABSTRACT
Drug abuse has been a global threat not only in Malaysia but worldwide, especially among adolescents. This is alarming issue had been a serious public health problem worldwide. The aim of the study is to access the knowledge and attitude on drug abuse among Pahang Matriculation students in 2016. A cross¬-sectional study was conducted involving 217 matriculation students. A self-determined questionnaire was distributed among the students regarding knowledge and attitude about drugs. The prevalence of good knowledge on drug abuse was (82.03%). The prevalence of students’ attitude on drug abuse has higher number of good attitude with the sum of 182 (83.9 %). Only gender showed a significant association with students’ knowledge (P= 0.046). The knowledge, attitude, and practice of drug abuse among Pahang Matriculation students are good.
ABSTRACT
Dengue Fever is a major public health issue in Malaysia. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue fever and effectiveness of health education programme among 204 students of Alam Shah Science School, Cheras/Kuala Lumpur. Study design was a cross sectional study followed by an interventional (pre-post) Study. The self-administered questionnaire included questions on sociodemographic factors, knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue fever. Majority of respondents were Malays (96.6%), monthly family income more than RM 3000 (64.6%) and lives in urban area (64.6%). There was no significant association between knowledge status and socio-demographic factors (p-value>0.05). Most of the respondents had good knowledge (63.2%) good attitudes (79.9%) regarding dengue fever. However, practices to prevent dengue was poor (74.0%). Only about one-fifth of the respondents (18.2%) believed that dengue fever is a flu-like illness. Knowledge score was significantly increased after health education programme (p value <0.001). There is a need to increase health education activities through campaigns and mass media to increase knowledge regarding dengue fever. This would help to inculcate positive attitudes and cultivate better preventive practices among the public to eliminate dengue fever in the country.