INTRODUCTION: The concomitant intake of herbal medicine and conventional medicine amongst patients is steadily increasing worldwide. However, concerns have been raised regarding potential adverse effects and drug interactions when consuming both medications together. Therefore, this work aimed to comprehending the perception of Type 2 Diabetic Mellitus (T2DM) patients on conventional medicine and the manner of its use with herbal medicine in managing diabetes mellitus. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted among 28 diabetic patients in four government clinics under the jurisdiction of the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit informants who consumed herbal medicine alongside their prescribed conventional medicine. This study employed semi-structured interviews, which were all digitally recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically. RESULTS: This study found that most of the patients perceived the negative side effects of conventional medicine, which led them to consider incorporating herbal medicine in treating diabetes. Such perception was influenced by the personal experiences of their family members and friends. A majority of the informants utilised herbal medicine as a complementary consumption to conventional medicine as opposed to implementing it as an alternative. However, they would alter the dosage and intake time of conventional medicine for several reasons, such as to complement their herbal medicine intake, being fed-up with conventional medicine, and reduce the risk of its side effects. Lastly, this study revealed that some of the patients noted their intention to discontinue conventional medicine, while some even tried to quit. CONCLUSIONS: A complete understanding of patient’s perceptions regarding conventional medicine and its usage with herbal medicine will aid healthcare providers to deliver education on the importance of conventional medicine usage compliance. Additionally, people should be aware that its combination with herbal medicine when consumed may present adverse effects and subsequently cause serious health problems.

The use of herbal medicine (HM) and its products has significantly increased in the past decade. Type 2 Diabetes mellitus patients (T2DM) are always rendering herbal medicine as an alternative to the current option of treatment to manage their disease. This article is aimed to explore the extent of communication process of patients who disclose their HM usage to healthcare providers (HCPs) and HCP’s experiences in managing these patients. Purposive sampling method was applied in this qualitative study, which involved 28 respondents from four government clinics in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. A semi-structured interview was developed for the in-depth interview (IDI) and focus group interview (FGD). Both IDIs and FGDs were audio-recorded and conducted for approximately (40–60) minutes. The contents were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. The majority of T2DM patients did not reveal their HM usage due to fear of negative feedback, never been inquired by HCP and bad experiences after disclosure. Whereas, patients will disclose if they have a good rapport with HCPs and HCP asked patients courteously. However, HCPs reported that they did not discuss HM usage with patients due to limited knowledge, patients refuse to admit and time constraint to consult patients. Communication between T2DM patients and HCPs during consultation concerning the proper use of HM alongside modern medicine needs to be improved. Therefore, a better understanding factor of HM usage and its disclosure would make patients more open-minded to discuss and encourage HCPs to be attentive to avoid any potential adverse effects in HM usage.

The sharing of health information by educating patients and encouraging them to seek relevant information is one of the main strategies in disease prevention. By evaluating patient's information seeking behaviour and identifying the health information seeking trends, it is possible to establish effective techniques to deliver the necessary information to the patients to enhance their self-management skills. It is critical to keep people informed about effective preventative techniques that can control their disease progression. Thus, this study aimed to highlight the role and importance of health information seeking behaviour among people with diabetes in Malaysia.

Background Zoonoses among household pets are recognized as disease and infections transmitted between animals and humans. World Health Organization‐estimated zoonotic diseases have contributed about one billion cases of illness and millions of mortalities every year. Despite the emerging and re‐emerging zoonotic disease, most pet owners are unaware of the risks posed by their pets. As there are a lack of studies assessing infections at home, this study aimed to develop and validate a cognitive, affective and behaviour questionnaire (CAB‐ZDQ) to assess household pets’ zoonotic diseases. Methods This paper covers detailed explanation on the various developmental and validation process stages of the CAB zoonotic disease questionnaire development. The development phase comprised thorough literature search, focus group discussion, expert panel assessment and review. The validation process included pre‐test and pilot testing, data analysis of results, analysis of internal consistency and the development of the final version of the questionnaire. Participants selected represented main ethnicities, gender, levels of education and population type (urban/rural) in the Klang Valley area. Results The items in the questionnaire has undergone various changes in structurally and linguistically. The final refined CAB questionnaire consists of 14 items cognitive (no items removed at pilot phase), nine items affective (one item removed at pilot phase) and five items behaviour (no items removed from pre‐test phase), respectively. Reliability analysis revealed Cronbach's alpha values were 0.700 (cognitive) and 0.606 (affective) which indicated good internal consistency after item reduction. Conclusions The developed questionnaire has proved its feasibility in assessing the Malaysian general population cognitive, affective and behavior regarding the household pets’ zoonotic diseases.

INTRODUCTION: Risky sexual behavior is defined as a behavior that increases one’s risk of contracting or being infected by sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and experiencing unintended pregnancies. This study examined the relationship between religiosity and risky sexual behavior among adolescents in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. METHODS: The inclusion criteria included 1,146 unmarried adolescents aged between 16 and 19 years, whereby they answered a validated self-administered questionnaire using the modified Religion Scale and Risky Sexual Behavior – Unsafe Sex Scale. The analysis was restricted to respondents who reported to have had sex. RESULTS: Overall, the response rate recorded 95% (n=1,086), whereby the prevalence of respondents who reported that they have had sex was 9.5%, n=103 (71 males, 32 females, mean age 17.82).  Descriptive results further showed that the prevalence of those who have had sex for male and female were 6.53% and 2.94%, respectively. The earliest sexual debut was revealed to be at 13 years of age. Moreover, bivariate analyses indicated a significant and negative correlation between religious practice and risky sexual behavior (r= -.23; p<.05). CONCLUSION: The study revealed that religious adolescents are more likely to avoid risky sexual behavior. This means that religious practice may become a potential protective factor in influencing adolescents to avoid risky sexual behaviors.

Globally, diabetes is a major public health concern and has impacted an estimated 425 million adults.  The increasing trend of diabetes incidence has impacted the Malaysian population and healthcare system. Evidence from studies suggested that diabetes can be treated and controlled through behavioural intervention. These include combining lifestyle with pharmacotherapy. Scholars in health behaviour highlighted the importance of assessing and monitoring the behavioural intervention among diabetic patients in terms of psychosocial aspects, such as information, motivation and behavioural factors, in relations with diabetes self-care. This article provides an overview of the empirical evidence regarding the importance of identifying information, motivation and behavioural factors, in relations with diabetes self-care. Information is among the prominent factors in establishing good diabetes management. Motivation can be conceptually defined as factors that predispose one to action and cues to behaviour change. Behavioural factors identified in this review includes compliance towards diabetes self-care. The outcome of this review could provide a better understanding of information, motivation and behavioural factors, and its relations with diabetes self-care.

BACKGROUND: Enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) in Malaysia caused by COVID-19 impacted people's health, social, behaviors, and economic consequences. Thus, this study aims to identify adults’ lifestyle and preventive behaviors during the MCO's early phase. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted in April 2020 using a convenience sampling technique. A total of 9987 adults aged 18 years and above from all over Malaysia participated in the study. The questionnaire was distributed through online platforms, such as Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp, and the official website. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to describe the categorical data and the independent T-test and one-way ANOVA tests were performed to compare continuous variables between two or more groups. The level of statistical significance was set at P < .05. RESULTS: Selangor showed the highest participation (28.4%) and most of the respondents were females (68.2%), married (67.8%), and aged between 36 and 45 years old (34.1%). This study found that 10.3% were smokers, and 46.7% of the smokers intended to quit smoking. Most respondents took their three main meals daily (72.4%), but not even half completed daily food groups (45.1%). The frequent activities were internet surfing (18.8%) and house chores (18.2%). Almost 98% of the respondents agreed to implement preventive behaviors. This study also revealed that attitudes toward preventive behaviors significantly differed across genders, age groups, categories of marital status, and monthly income categories ( P < .05). Furthermore, regarding readiness for behavior change after MCO end, only gender shows a significance difference ( P < .05). CONCLUSION: This study shed light on understanding public behavior during the early phase of the pandemic that may significantly impact public health in designing relevant regulations and policies to reduce the spread of COVID-19 infections and preparing strategies for future outbreaks or pandemics. As COVID-19 evolves, continuous efforts to promote positive behavioral changes in lifestyle and preventive behavior are needed to ensure the public practices a healthy lifestyle and complies with pandemic preventive measures.

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