Health literacy is an indicator of a society’s ability to make better health judgements for themselves and the people around them. This study investigated the prevalence of health literacy among Malaysian adults and provided an overall picture of the society’s current health literacy status, which has not been previously assessed. The study also highlighted socio-demographic markers of communities with limited health literacy that may warrant future intervention. A population-based self-administered survey using the Health Literacy Survey Malaysian Questionnaire18 (HLS-M-Q18) instrument was conducted as part of the National Health Morbidity Survey 2019 in Malaysia. The nationwide survey utilized a two-staged stratified random sampling method. A sample of 9478 individuals aged 18 and above, drawn from the living quarter list, participated in the study. The health literacy score was divided into three levels; limited, sufficient, and excellent. Findings showed a majority of the Malaysian population had a sufficient health literacy level in all three domains—healthcare, diseases prevention and health promotion (49.1%, 44.2%, and 47.5%, respectively)—albeit leaning towards the lower end of the category with an average score of 35.5. The limited health literacy groups were prevalent among respondents with older age (68%), lower education level (64.8%), and lower household income (49.5%). The overall health literacy status for Malaysia was categorized at a lower sufficiency level. Future health literacy improvements should focus on communities with a limited health literacy level to improve the overall score.

Efforts to reduce the current and projected harm caused by tobacco use in the ASEAN countries are urgently needed. ASEAN countries need to expand their national comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs and enforce those laws already passed. Without this effort little reduction can be expected in the burden of chronic diseases and tobacco-related mortality.

The needs for health promotion is increasingly important for Malaysian. Government invests in the development to improve health education. Malaysia lacks the development of online solutions to help to maintain the health of the nation through prevention and mass education. This paper addresses important questions about the development of those health promotion websites by considering the motivation of web elements. It seeks to provide information on the barriers to the use and success as a method of health promotion. The empirical work is a perceptions study that aims to identify the barriers of web-based health promotion in the different user characteristics for health promotion purposes. This work is a qualitative research project directed at ascertaining the perceptions of Malaysians concerning the use of health promotion websites. It pertains to those factors which stop the uptake of website use and seeks to discern the views of users on how the health promotion websites may be more engaging. The principal finding is that the ethnicity of the user is mainly relevant in terms of the socio-economic status of the user. Users across all ethnicities respond to the same qualities of websites. The same web elements are motivating to users regardless of the characteristics of the users because the uptake of the Internet and the use of websites for health promotion has been more a phenomenon of the young. The study concludes with some recommendations for the Ministry of Health and the developers of health promotion websites in Malaysia.

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.

Dengue fever is a vector-borne endemic disease that affects over 30 million Malaysians. Preventing the elimination of Aedes breeding sites is a necessary precautionary measure to strengthen the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the community. The aim of this study is to identify barriers to the knowledge, attitudes and practices of dengue prevention in the community through the study of selected articles published between 2010 and 2018. The present paper carried out a scoping review of available literature using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The title and abstract of each study were screened and relevant studies were further assessed for eligibility. A total of 1352 related articles were selected for this scoping review. Of these, 349 articles were found to be in line with the study objectives and 25 articles related to dengue prevention knowledge, attitudes and practices were discussed in this study. Conclusions and Recommendations: This review suggests that factors interfering with dengue prevention behaviours are divided into two factors, namely, the internal factors that encompass attitudes and perceptions of dengue prevention behaviours, and the environmental factors such as weather, drainage systems, buildings designed with unreachable rain gutters and also poor drainage and piping system have found to be the Aedes habitats. Therefore, interventions are normally performed to prevent an incident to re-instil positive attitudes and perceptions among the community members should be strengthened through appropriate and ongoing community programs such as COMBI and Search & Destroy campaign organized by Ministry of Health Malaysia.

AbstrakKajian ini adalah mengenai perancangan komunikasi kesihatan dan amalan gaya hidup sihat. Tujuan utama kajian ini adalah untuk meninjau apakah faktor-faktor yang perlu diambilkira dalam perancangan komunikasi kesihatan untuk mengubah amalan gaya hidup sihat . Selaras dengan itu, objektif kajian ini adalah untuk melihat hubungan antara beberapa faktor psiko-sosial dan komunikasi yang berperanan untuk membawa perubahan dalam gaya hidup individu iaitu membabitkan aktiviti fizikal dan pemakanan sihat. Satu kerangka model kajian yang dibina berasaskan gabungan Model Kepercayaan Kesihatan, Teori Tindakan Bersebab dan Teori Penglibatan Rendah telah digunakan. Untuk mengumpul data, kaedah tinjauan telah digunakan dengan menemubual secara bersemuka seramai 290 orang responden berumur di antara 18 hingga 82 tahun. Kajian telah dijalankan di 7 kawasan bandar dan luar bandar iaitu sekitar Kuala Lumpur (Sentul, Jinjang dan Bangsar), Selangor (Batang Berjuntai, Sungai Buloh dan Bangi), Perak (Slim River, Tanjung Malim, dan Sitiawan) dan Putra Jaya. Hasil kajian dibahagikan kepada dua komponen utama iaitu saringan kesihatan asas dan pengaruh faktor psikososial serta komunikasi terhadap amalan kesihatan (aktiviti fizikal dan pemakanan sihat). Saringan kesihatan asas menunjukkan AbstractThis study is about health communication planning and healthy lifestyle practices. The main purpose of this study is to explore the factors that should be considered in the planning of health communication for a healthy lifestyle change. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between psycho-social factors and the role of communication to bring about changes in lifestyle, mainly physical activity and healthy eating. The research framework model is built based on a combination of Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Low Involvement. Survey method was used to interview about 290 respondents aged between 18 and 82 years. The study was conducted in 7 rural and urban areas of Kuala Lumpur (Sentul, Jinjang and Bangsar), Selangor (Batang Berjuntai, Sungai Buloh and Bangi), Perak (Slim River, Tanjung Malim, and Sitiawan) and Putra Jaya. The findings are divided into two main components which encompasses basic health screenings and psycho-social factors which influence the communication factors towards health practices (physical activity and healthy eating). Basic health screening showed the majority of respondents have abnormal anthropometric markers which is body mass index and excess body fat rate. In relation to lifestyle, the majority of respondents is physically active (79%) meanwhile 76% of respondents do not take sufficient vegetables and fruits. The study shows that the communication factors (health involvement, health information seeking behavior and cues to action) influence the respondents towards positive health practices. Health involvement showed a significant relationship to the health information seeking behavior. Meanwhile, the health information seeking behavior showed a significant correl...

It is presumed that the level of physical activity (PA) declines during a person’s lifespan, particularly during adolescence. The main objective of this scoping review is to summarize and identify the current literature that addresses contributing factors related to adolescent physical inactivity. This scoping review was carried out using the framework suggested by Arskey and O'Malley. The literature review was undertaken using the reference period between 2008 and 2014, based primarily on the PubMed, Cochrane and Embase databases. Additional studies have been identified by a manual bibliography search. Search term included adolescent / youth / teenage, factors / determinants /correlations, and physical inactivity/decline exercise. A total of 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. This scoping review found some evidence of the association between physical inactivity and the following variables: Age, sex, socio-economic status, lack of social support from parents, family and friends have had an impact on their motivation to perform PA on a continuous basis. Also, the lack of awareness, attitudes, and practices of individuals themselves for not doing PA has affected their interest in maintaining PA. It is noted that the environment also plays an important role, such as inadequate facilities and facilities, as well as an unsuitable place or setting that is unconducive and a neighbourhood that does not take care of or is aware of a healthy lifestyle, is also a contributing factor to physical inactivity. The decline in PA during adolescence is a consistent finding in the literature. However, PA interventions should be developed through education, family programs, behavioural or environmental and policy changes.

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.