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Background: This study assessed the validity and reliability of healthcare workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices instrument for uncomplicated malaria (HKAPIUM) for evaluation of healthcare workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on uncomplicated malaria management in primary healthcare (PHC) facilities in Plateau state, Nigeria. Methods: Relevant variables from literature, malaria treatment guidelines for Nigeria, and World Health Organization (WHO) were used to generate and present the items for the draft HKAPIUM scale, which was first screened by six experts before administered to 121 respondents who filled and returned immediately. The data were sorted and analyzed using Rasch measurement model (Bond & Fox software ®). Results: The outcome of the initial screening showed high items content validity indices (I-CVI) (0.83-1.00) and high scale-CVI (S-CVI) {universal agreement (UA) within the experts (S-CVI/UA) (0.67-0.89) and the average CVI [S-CVI/Ave (0.94-0.98)]} for relevance, clarity, simplicity, and comprehensiveness. The Rasch analysis outputs showed good items' reliability for the three factors (KAP) > 0.9 with high separation index values of > 2.0; however person reliability were poor (< 0.6) which were confirmed by their low separation values. Goodness of fit statistics indicated nine items not fitting the model based on the suggested fit index values of 0.6 to 1.5, and ± 2 for mean square (MNSQ) and standardized Z-score (Zstds) respectively, and 0.3 to 0.7 for "point-measure correlation coefficients" (PTMEA Corr). Deletion of misfit items resulted in the items and persons' reliabilities falling above the minimum accepted limit of 0.6, with their separation values were all in the range of 1 and 2 which were acceptable. Similarly, fit index values for MNSQ infit and outfit, and Zstd parameters items in the new scale were all within the acceptable range of 0.6 to 1.5, and ±2 respectively, in addition to the positive PTMEA Corr as further confirmation of the items' fitness to the model.

Purpose: The elusive goal of asthma management guidelines is to achieve and maintain good asthma control in asthmatic patients. Against a background of long-term respiratory limitations when living with asthma, stigma and low self-esteem have also been identified as the social phenomenon among adult asthmatics. This study aimed to assess the levels of self-stigma, self-esteem, and asthma control, and to investigate the impact of self-stigma and self-esteem as psychosocial factors on asthma control in Malaysian adults living with asthma. Materials and Methods: In this multicenter cross-sectional study, post-ethics approval and patients' consents, 152 stable asthmatic patients (aged > 18 years old; nil cognitive disability; not diagnosed with other respiratory diseases) were recruited from four respiratory clinics in Selangor, Malaysia. The patients' socio-demographic, medical, and psychosocial (self-stigma and self-esteem) data were recorded in a pre-validated, self-designed questionnaire. All data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially (independent t-test/one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression) using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS ®). Results: The enrolled patients showed moderate levels of self-stigma (62.12 ± 6.44) and self-esteem (29.31 ± 3.29), and not well-controlled asthma (17.58 ± 3.99). The number of patients' visits to emergency rooms because of asthma [CI (−1.199, 0.317), p < 0.001] was the significant predictor to asthma control among all selected study variables from socio-demographic and medical data. Moreover, from psychosocial factors both selfstigma [CI (−0.367, 0.190), p < 0.001], and self-esteem [CI (−0.007, 0.033), p = 0.041] found to be the significant predictors of asthma control. Conclusion: The preliminary evidences presented in this study found that frequent emergency room visits, high self-stigma and low self-esteem in asthma patients becomes more apparent with poor asthma control. Educational interventions to reduce patients' self-stigma and improve self-esteem are needed to achieve optimal control of asthma.

There is no instrument which collectively assesses the knowledge, attitude and perceived practice of asthma among community pharmacists. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the instrument which measured the knowledge, attitude and perceived practice of asthma among community pharmacists by producing empirical evidence of validity and reliability of the items using Rasch model (Bond & Fox software®) for dichotomous and polytomous data. This baseline study recruited 33 community pharmacists from Penang, Malaysia. The results showed that all PTMEA Corr were in positive values, where an item was able to distinguish between the ability of respondents. Based on the MNSQ infit and outfit range (0.60-1.40), out of 55 items, 2 items from the instrument were suggested to be removed. The findings indicated that the instrument fitted with Rasch measurement model and showed the acceptable reliability values of 0.88 and 0.83 and 0.79 for knowledge, attitude and perceived practice respectively.