ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6649-9209
Current Organisation
Universiti Sains Malaysia
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 05-2021
DOI: 10.2147/BCTT.S299584
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2017
Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Date: 05-2009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-05-2009
DOI: 10.1002/PON.1584
Abstract: To evaluate a psycho-educational program (PeP) for parents of children with cancer (PoCwC) in Malaysia. Seventy-nine parents were invited to be either in an intervention (n=41) or a control group (n=38). Baseline assessment took place upon agreement of participation. Short-term effects were measured four weeks after the intervention. Control parents received standard care. Intervention parents received, in addition to standard care, 4 x 50 min sessions of information on childhood cancer and coping strategies. Repeated measures of ANOVAs revealed increased knowledge about cancer (p=0.01) in the intervention parents compared with standard care. Intervention parents reported reduced anxiety and increased activities with children after the program however, differences were not significant. This PeP, the first of its kind in Malaysia, has significantly increased levels of knowledge among parents of seriously ill children which may point towards the potential for these services to increase coping in Malaysian PoCwC.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 19-11-2014
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-03-2021
Abstract: The escalating trend of murder victim concealment worldwide appears worrying, and literature does not reveal any specific study focusing on victim concealment amongst convicted male Malaysian murderers. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the psychological traits that may underlie the act of murder concealment in Malaysia via mixed method approaches. Male murderers (n = 71) from 11 prisons were selected via purposive s ling technique. In the quantitative analysis, a cross-sectional study design using the validated questionnaire was used. The questionnaire contained murder concealment variables and four Malay validated psychometric instruments measuring: personality traits, self-control, aggression, and cognitive distortion. The independent s le t-tests revealed the significantly higher level of anger in murderers who did not commit concealment acts (8.55 ± 2.85, p 0.05) when compared with those who did so (6.40 ± 2.64). Meanwhile, the Kruskal–Wallis H test revealed that anger and the personality trait of aggressiveness-hostility significantly varied across the different groups of murder concealment acts (p 0.05). The qualitative data obtained via the in-depth interviews revealed two important themes for the murderers to commit murder concealment acts: (1) fear of discovery and punishment and (2) blaming others. These findings discussed from the perspectives of the murderers within the context of criminology and psychology may provide the first ever insight into the murder concealment acts in Malaysia that can benefit the relevant authorities for crime prevention and investigation efforts.
Publisher: E.U. European Publishing
Date: 16-04-2021
DOI: 10.18332/TID/133638
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-06-2023
Abstract: Febrile seizures in children are an alarming experience for parents. This study aimed to assess the psychological functioning of parents of children when they were being admitted for treatment of febrile seizures in the hospital, the importance of which is clear, since parents are the primary custodian of their children. This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 110 participants whose child had been admitted for a febrile seizure to Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia from September 2020 until June 2021. The depression, anxiety, and stress levels were determined based on a validated Bahasa Melayu questionnaire of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). In addition, multiple logistic regression was used to determine the associated factors related to the participants’ psychological functioning. The mean age of children with febrile seizures were 21 months old, and most children showed features of simple febrile seizures (71.8%). The prevalence of anxiety, stress, and depression were 58.2%, 29%, and 23.6%, respectively. Using multiple logistic regression, child age, family history of febrile seizures, family history of epilepsy, and length of stay in the ward were found to be significantly associated with anxiety when adjusted for other variables. Otherwise, for depression and stress, no significant associated variables were found when adjusted for other variables. Anxiety was highly reported by participants when their children were admitted for febrile seizures. Several factors impacted their anxiety, including the lower the child’s age was, participants with no family history of febrile seizures before, and the longer duration of hospital stay. Therefore, further study and intervention on reducing the parent’s anxiety could be emphasized in the future.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-08-2018
DOI: 10.1111/DMCN.13986
Abstract: This study aimed to review the psychometric properties and clinical application of parent-report instruments that assess feeding difficulties in children with neurological impairments. Papers were identified through five electronic databases based on 15 keywords and were included if they met the following criteria: published in English, described the implementation of parent-report instruments, and included children with neurological impairments (either in the report or a related study population). In total, 1220 relevant abstracts were screened and 22 full-text articles were evaluated. The following six parent-report instruments met the inclusion criteria: (1) Screening Tool of Feeding Problems applied to children, (2) Paediatric Eating Assessment Tool, (3) Paediatric Assessment Scale for Severe Feeding Problems, (4) Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale, (5) Children's Eating Behaviour Inventory, and (6) Behavioural Paediatric Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS). Based on comprehensive psychometric testing and consistently good results, the BPFAS was considered the most valid and reliable instrument. The BPFAS also showed good clinical applicability because it was readily available, required a short administration time, and used a simple scoring system. We reviewed the available parent-report instruments for assessing feeding difficulties in children with neurological impairments. The BPFAS had the best psychometric properties and clinical applicability. Six parent-report instruments were suitable for assessing feeding in children with neurological impairments. The Behavioural Paediatric Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS) has the strongest psychometric properties. The BPFAS also has good clinical applicability.
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 07-08-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ECC.13669
Abstract: Psychological distress (including depression and anxiety) is common in the first years of cancer diagnosis but can differ by country and region. The aim of the present paper was to review the prevalence of psychological distress among cancer patients in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. A systematic literature search was carried out using several databases (i.e., PubMed, PsychARTICLES, Embase, CINAHI, Web of Sciences, Plus, Scopus, and AHMED). Papers originally published in English language were taken into consideration if they (i) were published from 2010 to 2021 and (ii) reported the prevalence of psychological distress among patients with different types of cancer. A total of 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. The most frequently employed psychometric instrument for anxiety and depression screening was the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The prevalence of anxiety (ranging from 7% to 88%) was wider than that of depression (ranging from 3% to 65.5%) among patients with different types of cancer and living in various countries in the SEA region. The overall prevalence rate of psychological distress among cancer patients from the SEA region was not fundamentally very different from that of general populations. These findings provide useful information for health professionals and cancer patients to understand the negative role of psychological distress in quality of life and health. The research findings demonstrate the importance of counselling for psychological distress among cancer patients as means of effectively resolving their psychological problems and ultimately improving the quality of oncology medical care. Clinical recommendations for cancer management should incorporate the early identification of (and therapy for) psychological distress, as well as their monitoring during treatment.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 05-2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-02-2022
DOI: 10.1002/JNR.25023
Abstract: Working memory (WM) encompasses crucial cognitive processes or abilities to retain and manipulate temporary information for immediate execution of complex cognitive tasks in daily functioning such as reasoning and decision-making. The WM of in iduals sustaining traumatic brain injury (TBI) was commonly compromised, especially in the domain of WM. The current study investigated the brain responses of WM in a group of participants with mild-moderate TBI compared to their healthy counterparts employing functional magnetic resonance imaging. All consented participants (healthy: n = 26 and TBI: n = 15) performed two variations of the n-back WM task with four load conditions (0-, 1-, 2-, and 3-back). The respective within-group effects showed a right hemisphere-dominance activation and slower reaction in performance for the TBI group. Random-effects analysis revealed activation difference between the two groups in the right occipital lobe in the guided n-back with cues, and in the bilateral occipital lobe, superior parietal region, and cingulate cortices in the n-back without cues. The left middle frontal gyrus was implicated in the load-dependent processing of WM in both groups. Further group analysis identified that the notable activation changes in the frontal gyri and anterior cingulate cortex are according to low and high loads. Though relatively smaller in scale, this study was eminent as it clarified the neural alterations in WM in the mild-moderate TBI group compared to healthy controls. It confirmed the robustness of the phenomenon in TBI with the reproducibility of the results in a heterogeneous non-Western s le.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 10-06-2022
DOI: 10.3390/HEALTHCARE10061083
Abstract: Lockdown implementation during COVID-19 pandemic has caused many negative impacts in various aspect of life, including in the academic world. Routine disruption to teaching and learning environment has raised concerns to the wellbeing of university staff and students. This study aimed to examine the subjective wellbeing of the university community in Northern Malaysia during lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic and the factors affecting it. An online cross-sectional survey involving 1148 university staff and students was conducted between March and April 2020. The research tools include the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) to assess subjective wellbeing and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress 21 (DASS-21) scale for psychological distress. While we found the subjective wellbeing score in our study population was stable at 7.67 (1.38), there was high prevalence of anxiety, depression, and stress with 27.4%, 18.4%, and 11.5%, respectively. The students reported higher levels of psychological distress compared to staff. The PWI score was seen to be inversely affected by the depression and stress score with a reduction in the PWI score by 0.022 (95% CI −0.037 to −0.007) and 0.046 (95% CI −0.062 to −0.030) with every one-unit increment for each subscale, respectively. Those who perceived to have more difficulty due to the lockdown also reported low subjective wellbeing. Thus, it is crucial to ensure policies and preventative measures are in place to provide conducive teaching and learning environment. Additionally, the detrimental psychological effects especially among students should be addressed proactively.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 06-11-2021
Abstract: The effect of cyberbullying among adolescents in Malaysia is not much studied. The Cyberbullying Scale (CBS) has been validated to be used among English speaking adolescents to measure cyberbullying but not in Malay language. Therefore, its validity should be established before use in the Malaysian context. Thus, the study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Malay version of the CBS (CBS-M) among secondary school students. The study was cross-sectional and involved a self-administered questionnaire with 16 items from CBS-M, and 21 items from the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Participants were recruited using a multi-stage s ling method. The validity of the CBS-M was tested in two phases, namely, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Spearman’s correlation was used to examine the strength of the relationship between the CBS and subscales from DASS-21 to further support the validity of CBS-M. A total of 401 respondents from Muar, Johor, participated. The mean age was 14.6 years (SD = 1.25). EFA results indicated a one-factor model of CBS-M with a total variance extracted of 33.9%. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach’s alpha reached 0.87. The model was then tested using CFA. The initial model did not fit the data well. Thus, several model re-specifications were conducted on the initial model. The final measurement model of CBS-M fit the data well with acceptable fit indices (CFI = 0.946, TLI = 0.932, SRMR = 0.055, RMSEA = 0.049). The composite reliability for CBS-M was satisfactory with a value of 0.832. The CBS-M questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for measuring cyberbullying among young adolescents in Malaysia.
Publisher: NeuroQuantology Journal
Date: 2018
Publisher: Asian Economic and Social Society
Date: 08-2022
Abstract: This study investigated differences related to fear of COVID-19, fear to leave home and ten aspects of working adults’ life between genders and working places. 455 working adults in Malaysia participated in the online survey through convenience s ling technique. The results showed that the main effect for gender was significant (Wilks’ Λ = 0.88, F(2, 375) = 4.10, p = 0.001, multivariate η2 = 0.12.), indicating that fear of COVID-19, fear of leaving home, and aspects of working adults’ life tests differ for males and females. Moreover, the results showed that the main effect for working place was significant (Wilks’ Λ = 0.94, F(2, 375) = 1.81, p = 0.045, multivariate η2 = 0.06) but the interaction of gender and working place was not significant. Furthermore, in iduals working from home reported higher fear to leave home and more severe effect on occupational aspect than those who worked at the workplace.
Publisher: Medknow
Date: 03-10-2021
Abstract: Introduction: The study was performed to measure psychological problems in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) while on steroid therapy as compared to healthy children. Methods: It was a prospective cohort study conducted in a paediatric clinic of a tertiary hospital. Parents of participants, both in the INS group and the control group comprising children without chronic illness, were asked to complete questionnaires using the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL). CBCL measures a range of age-specific emotional and psychological problems including internalising and externalising domains. Analyses of the CBCL scores between groups were done using Mann-Whitney U test. Results: A total of 140 children were recruited with an equal number in the INS and control groups. There was a significant difference in the mean total CBCL scores between INS group children and control group children, specifically in the withdrawal, somatic, anxious, and aggressiveness sub-domains. Similar findings were demonstrated in a correlation between total psychological problems with the dosage of corticosteroid. Within the INS children, steroid dose and Cushingoid features were found to have a significant positive association with internalising psychological problems. Conclusion: Children with INS on corticosteroid treatment showed an increase in internalising and externalising scores compared to healthy children.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 2013
Abstract: This study examined disease-related variables that are thought to play some role in exacerbating psychological problems among chronically ill children. The participants included 63 parents of children suffering from cancer, epilepsy, and asthma. The parents rated their children’s behavioral and emotional problems and provided information on the frequency of hospitalization, onset, and duration of the illness and the age of the child at the disease onset. The Child Behavior Checklist was used. Multiple-regression analysis and correlations were computed to determine the relationship of disease-related variables to the psychological problems of the children. One-way, between-subject ANOVA was used to analyze the psychological problems of children of different age groups. The results showed positive relationships between the frequency of hospitalization and the later onset of the illness and the psychological problems among children. It also showed that children in the age group of 7 to 11 years had the highest number of problems compared with other age groups. The psychological healing aspects of the family and the culture on the children’s illnesses in the collectivist societies have been discussed.
Location: No location found
No related grants have been discovered for Azizah Othman.