This review aims to identify hospital food service strategies to improve food consumption among hospitalized patients. A systematic search that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria was manually conducted through Web of Science and Scopus by an author, and the ambiguities were clarified by two senior authors. The quality assessment was separately conducted by two authors, and the ambiguities were clarified with all the involved authors. Qualitative synthesis was used to analyze and summarized the findings. A total of 2432 articles were identified by searching the databases, and 36 studies were included. The majority of the studies applied menu modifications and meal composition interventions (n = 12, 33.3%), or included the implementation of the new food service system (n = 8, 22.2%), protected mealtimes, mealtime assistance and environmental intervention (n = 7, 19.4%), and attractive meal presentation (n = 3, 8.3%). Previous studies that used multidisciplinary approaches reported a significant improvement in food intake, nutritional status, patient satisfaction and quality of life (n = 6, 16.7%). In conclusion, it is suggested that healthcare institutions consider applying one or more of the listed intervention strategies to enhance their foodservice operation in the future.
Breastfeeding is linked to a number of health related benefits among infants. Breastfeeding provides the ideal nutrition for infants, by promoting a higher IQ and protecting against childhood and adult diseases. Despite these health benefits, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding are still low in Malaysia. Intention to breastfeed is closely related to early initiation to breastfeed and could also be a predictor of longer duration of breastfeeding. The objectives of this study are to provide a descriptive analysis of the sociodemographic characteristics, breastfeeding intention and breastfeeding attitudes and determine predictors affecting breastfeeding intention among low-to-middle income women. A prospective cohort study was undertaken of mothers attending eight antenatal clinics run by the Ministry of Health in Selangor, Malaysia. Mothers were recruited during the antenatal period and followed up until six months postpartum to document breastfeeding outcomes. Among 652 mothers in our study, exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding, and exclusive formula feeding intentions were 49.6%, 46.3%, and 9.0%, respectively. Age, maternal employment, maternal education, parity, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), breastfeeding attitude, spouse's preference, grandmother's preference and breastfeeding experience had significant relationship with breastfeeding intention (p< 0.05). However, further analysis showed that breastfeeding intention was associated with positive breastfeeding attitudes, older age, greater years of education, being housewives, having partner and family support for breastfeeding and grandmothers' breastfeeding experience. These findings suggest that by providing breastfeeding initiatives towards less educated, young mothers who lack breastfeeding support from their loved ones may improve breastfeeding rates. IntroductionBreastmilk is the most complete nutrition for infants (Gartner et al., 2005). Breastfeeding provides significant protective effect towards various childhood diseases to the infants in the short term and beyond (Binns, Lee, & Low, 2016;Horta & Victora, 2013). Infants who were not breastfeeding may expose to higher risks of infectious morbidity, as well as associated with increased risks of childhood obesity, leukemia, type I and II diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs) (Stuebe, 2009). Breastfeeding intention is a significant predictor of positive breastfeeding outcomes, having an intention to breastfeed linked to early initiation and longer duration of breastfeeding (Donath & Amir, 2003;Mitra, Khoury, Hinton, & Carothers, 2004;Tarrant, Younger, Sheridan-Pereira, White, & Kearney, 2010a). Intention is an immediate precursor of behaviour and is defined as the perception of an individual towards performance of a particular behaviour (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). In this study breastfeeding intention was defined as the degree of confidence about practising optimal breastfeeding behaviour. Intention to breastfeed is closely related to early initiation to breastfeed and could al...
This study aimed to determine the prevalence of undernutrition, diet quality and its associated factors among children aged two to six years at Tuba Island. A total of 67 children paired with their mother or caregiver were participated in this study. A questionnaire containing socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements and two days of 24-hours dietary recall was administered. The Malaysian Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was used to assess the children's diet quality. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting were 22.4%, 20.8% and 17.9%, respectively. Mean total HEI score was 37.1±6.3, which indicate poor diet. The children had low mean scores for vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products as well as legumes. For socio-demographic factors, number of children per household was associated with diet quality. This study points out that overall low dietary score among these children and their diet quality had no association with their growth status. The low diet quality was prevalent; thus it did not contribute to differences in growth status among these children. Therefore, it is suggested further intervention should be taken to improve the nutrition quality of these children.
Introduction: Fathers’ knowledge, attitude, and involvement in breastfeeding practices are crucial factors to determine the success of breastfeeding outcomes such as decision-making on breastfeeding, successfulness of exclusive breastfeeding, and continuation of breastfeeding practices. This study aimed to identify the determinants of fathers’ involvement in breastfeeding practices. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 203 fathers attending Maternal and Child Health Clinics in Kuala Selangor. Self-administered questionnaires were used to obtain information regarding fathers’ sociodemography, breastfeeding knowledge, attitudes, and involvement towards breastfeeding practices. Results: Mean age of the fathers was 32.1±5.9 years, ranging between 21 to 50 years. Findings showed that majority of the fathers were involved in breastfeeding practices (52.7%; n=107, 57.0±6.2), had fair knowledge in breastfeeding (62.6%; n=127, 13.8±3.2), and showed low attitude towards breastfeeding (68.0%; n=138, 61.9±6.7). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed factors with significant influence on fathers’ involvement towards breastfeeding practices were: (1) fathers’ breastfeeding knowledge, (2) fathers’ attitudes towards breastfeeding practices, and (3) mode of infant delivery. Conclusion: These significant predictors may help healthcare professionals to establish effective strategies by advocating the role of fathers in the breastfeeding process such as by offering continuous support, active involvement, and effective participation.
Introduction: Hospital foodservice is one of the key performance metrics that should be constantly monitored to maintain and improve the quality of hospital services. However, hospital foodservice must overcome obstacles and constraints that can impact the quality of services supplied. This study explored the barriers and challenges foodservice employees encountered during food production and serving meals to patients. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted with thirteen foodservice employees (N = 13) at a government hospital in Selangor, Malaysia, that outsourced its foodservice operations. The interviewees were chosen based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using narrative, and thematic analysis. Results: The narrative findings reported foodservice employees were able to define their job in the foodservice department and describe their responsibilities in delivering sufficient quality of service to patients. The findings showed foodservice staff confronts barriers and challenges related to the type of foodservice operation, budget allocation, menu served, employee issues, meal preparation, and equipment. Employees also proposed that the government should regularly revise the foodservice contract specifications, budget allocation, and upgrade the equipment used during meal preparation and delivery to patients for future improvement. Conclusion: Future studies should be conducted in different hospital settings, including government, semi-government and private hospitals or foodservice operation systems such as in-house and outsourced operations or centralized and decentralized plating systems to explore other barriers and challenges that may affect the overall foodservice performance. Therefore, intervention studies can be proposed to improve their operation in the future.
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