Determinants of the willingness to participate in biobanking among Malaysian stakeholders in the Klang Valley

When Biobanks Meet Religion: Association Between Religiosity and Attitudes of Polish Medical Students Toward Biobanking of Human Biological Material for Research Purposes

While biobanking is expanding globally, the empirical evidence concerning the impact of religion on future healthcare professionals' awareness and willingness to donate biospecimens for biobank research is lacking. To understand how medical students' religious beliefs can fuel their questions regarding how biospecimens would be stored, cared for, and used, we conducted a survey among 1500 medical students at Poznań University of Medical Sciences. Our findings suggest that, while both religious and nonreligious students supported the idea of biobanking of human biological material and were willing to donate for research purposes, nonreligious students felt more positive toward biobanking, supported the idea of establishing biobanks in Poland more often, and were more eager to donate most types of tissues and to participate in biobank research. Religious beliefs were also associated with medical students' perception of benefits and risks resulting from biobanking, perceived trust toward various biobank institutions, and preferred type of consent.

Public's awareness of biobanks and willingness to participate in biobanking: the moderating role of social value orientation

Although the awareness of biobanks is considered to be a key factor in the willingness to participate in biobanking, the empirical evidence on their relationship is inconsistent. The present study investigated social value orientation as an explanatory factor in this relationship. A representative sample of 600 Slovaks completed Slider Measure to assess their social value orientation. Thereafter, they reported their level of awareness of biobanks and their willingness to provide biospecimens and personal information to biobanks. The results showed a positive relationship between awareness and willingness. Although social value orientation was not the moderator, we found that this relationship was significant only in the groups of altruists and individualists. The results remained robust after taking sociodemographic and institutional trust factors into account. Our findings imply that biobank awareness programmes should highlight both prosocial and proself motives to attract people with various social value orientations to participate in biobanking.

"To do, or not to do?": determinants of stakeholders' acceptance on dengue vaccine using PLS-SEM analysis in Malaysia

Background

Dengue vaccine is a promising alternative for protecting communities from dengue. Nevertheless, public acceptance of the dengue vaccine must be considered before the authorities decide to carry out intensified research and recommend the vaccine adoption. This study aimed to assess the stakeholders' acceptability of the dengue vaccine and determine the factors that influence their intentions to adopt it.

Methods

Survey data collected from 399 respondents who represented two primary stakeholder groups: scientist (n = 202) and public (n = 197), were analysed using the partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique.

Results

The findings revealed that the stakeholders claimed to have a highly positive attitude and intention to adopt the vaccine, perceived the vaccine as having high benefits, and displayed a high degree of religiosity and trust in the key players. The results also demonstrated that attitude and perceived benefits significantly influenced the intention to adopt the dengue vaccine. Furthermore, the perceived benefit was the most significant predictor of attitude to the dengue vaccine, followed by religiosity, attitudes to technology, and trust in key players.

Conclusion

The findings showed that the stakeholders in Malaysia were optimistic about the dengue vaccine with a positive attitude and perceived benefits as significant predictors of intention to adopt the vaccine. Hence, ongoing research can be intensified with the end target of recommending the vaccine for public adoption in hotspot areas. This finding contributes to the consumer behaviour literature while also providing helpful information to the government, policymakers, and public health officials about effective strategies for driving dengue vaccine acceptance in Malaysia and other countries with a history of severe dengue transmission.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13967-3.

Determinants of stakeholders' attitudes and intentions toward supporting the use of Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes for dengue control

BACKGROUND

A recent approach in controlling dengue is by using the Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquito (WiAM). The approach has been reported to be more effective than traditional methods, such as fogging. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the factors predicting its acceptance among stakeholders before implementing this technology more widely in Malaysia.

METHODS

The survey data were collected from two primary stakeholder groups using a stratified random sampling technique. The two primary stakeholder groups were scientists (n = 202) and the public (n = 197) in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia, a hot spot area known for the high rate of dengue cases. The respondents answered questions on a seven-point Likert scale survey regarding trust in key players, attitudes toward nature versus materialism, religiosity, perceived benefits, perceived risks, attitudes, and intentions. The data were analyzed using Smart Partial Least Square (SmartPLS) software (version 3.2.6) to determine the predictors influencing attitudes and intentions to support the use of WiAM technology.

RESULTS

The results indicated a strong positive relationship between attitudes and intentions to support the use of WiAM (β = 0.676, p < 0.001). The most important significant predictor for attitudes was perceived benefits (β = 0.493, p < 0.001), followed by perceived risks (β = - 0.080, p = 0.048). Trust in key players, attitudes toward nature versus material, and religiosity had indirect relationships with attitudes through the perceived benefits and risks.

CONCLUSIONS

The identified predictors can serve as indicators for the decision-making process regarding WiAM implementation in Malaysia and other developing countries with similar demographics and cultures.

Current Status and Future Challenges of Biobank Research in Malaysia

The establishment of MyCohort in 2005 showed that there is a growing interest on the part of the Malaysian government in the creation of biobanks in the country. This project can be considered as the biggest and most comprehensive cohort study in Malaysia, where hundreds of thousands of human samples are stored for epidemiological and biomedical research. However, little is known about the current issues or the situation related to biobank research in Malaysia. There are pressing issues that need answers such as the governance of the national biobank as well as other privately owned biobanks in the nation, the public perspectives and perceptions regarding biobanks, and other matters such as the ethical, legal, and social issues related to biobank research. This article will highlight the status and issues related to biobank research in Malaysia and provide suggestions on future research practices that we feel need to be seriously considered. These suggestions are designed to advance and enlighten researchers' knowledge, as well as provide the public with information on issues associated to biobanking. Good governance increases public knowledge and trust, and religious acceptance of biobank research and accountability can lead to increased participation in biobank research. The direct implications of the discussion about the ethical, legal, and social issues of biobanks are pertinent for the foundation of knowledge relating to biobanks, as well as the forward gestures for future medicine for mankind.

Knowledge, perceptions and attitude of Egyptian physicians towards biobanking issues

Objectives

Collection and storage of biospecimens and data for biobanking raise many ethical concerns. Stakeholders’ opinions about these ethical issues are important since they can help in the development of ethical guidelines to govern biobanking activities. Physicians are among the important stakeholders since they contact potential participants and could be biobank users. The goal of this study is to evaluate the perceptions and attitude of Egyptian physicians towards ethical issues in biobanking.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was designed and distributed with the target group between November 2019 and January 2020.

Results

The questionnaire was completed by 223 physicians. While 65.5% reported hearing the term "Biobanking" before, 45.7% knew that there are biobanks in Egypt. Participants had a general positive attitude towards the value of biobanks in research. About 73% agreed that biobanks can share biospecimens with international research organizations, but only 42.6% supported collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, and 44% agreed to the use of user fees by biobanks. About 48% supported the use of broad consent in biobanks, and 73.1% believed that donors of biospecimens should be informed about results of research performed on their biospecimens.

Conclusion

Although many Egyptian physicians heard about biobanking, they had limited knowledge about the existence of biobanks in Egypt. They had concerns about commercialization, use of broad consent and user fees. A knowledge gap exists among these stakeholders, which should be covered by different educational activities. Community discussions should start to reach consensus about the issues of commercialization and return of research results.

Predictors of stakeholders’ intention to adopt nutrigenomics

Background

Nutrigenomics is an emerging science that studies the relationship between genes, diet and nutrients that can help prevent chronic disease. The development of this science depends on whether the public accept its application; therefore, predicting their intention to adopt it is important for its successful implementation.

Objective

This study aims to analyse Malaysian stakeholders’ intentions to adopt nutrigenomics, and determines the factors that influence their intentions.

Methods

A survey was conducted based on the responses of 421 adults (aged 18 years and older) and comprising two stakeholder groups: healthcare providers (n = 221) and patients (n = 200) who were located in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The SPSS software was used to analyse the descriptive statistics of intention to adopt nutrigenomics and the SmartPLS software was used to determine the predicting factors affecting their decisions to adopt nutrigenomics.

Results

The results show that the stakeholders perceived the benefits of nutrigenomics as outweighing its risks, suggesting that the perceived benefits represent the most important direct predictor of the intention to adopt nutrigenomics. The perceived risks of nutrigenomics, trust in key players, engagement with medical genetics and religiosity also predict the intention to adopt nutrigenomics. Additionally, the perceived benefits of nutrigenomics served as a mediator for four factors: perceived risks of nutrigenomics, engagement with medical genetics, trust in key players and religiosity, whilst the perceived risks were a mediator for engagement with medical genetics.

Conclusion

The findings of this study suggest that the intentions of Malaysian stakeholders to adopt nutrigenomics are a complex decision-making process where all the previously mentioned factors interact. Although the results showed that the stakeholders in Malaysia were highly positive towards nutrigenomics, they were also cautious about adopting it.

The Integration and Harmonisation of Secular and Islamic Ethical Principles in Formulating Acceptable Ethical Guidelines for Modern Biotechnology in Malaysia

The Malaysian government recognises the potential contribution of biotechnology to the national economy. However, ongoing controversy persists regarding its ethical status and no specific ethical guidelines have been published relating to its use. In developing such guidelines, it is important to identify the underlying principles that are acceptable to Malaysian society. This paper discusses the process of determining relevant secular and Islamic ethical principles and establishing their similarities before harmonising them. To achieve this, a series of focus group discussions were conducted with 23 knowledge experts representing various stakeholders in the biotechnology community. Notably, several principles between the secular and Islamic perspectives are indirectly or directly similar. All the experts agreed with the predominant six ethical principles of secular and Islamic philosophy and their importance and relevance in modern biotechnology. These are beneficence and non-maleficence as the main or overarching principles, the preservation of religious and moral values, the preservation of the intellect and the mind, the protection of human safety, the protection of future generations, and protection of the environment and biological diversity. Several adjustments were made to the terminologies and definitions of these six principles to formulate acceptable guiding principles for the ethics of modern biotechnology in Malaysia. These can then be adopted as core values to underpin future national guidelines on modern biotechnology ethics. These principles will be particularly important in guiding the policy makers, enforcers, industries and researchers to streamline their activities. In so doing, modern biotechnology and its products can be properly managed without jeopardising the interests of the Muslim community as well as the general public. Importantly, they are expansive and inclusive enough to embrace the religious sensitivity of diverse quarters of Malaysia.

Determinants of stakeholders' intention to adopt pharmacogenomic

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing, which aims to identify the genes that affect our responses to drugs, has been favoured by healthcare professionals as a means of maximising drug efficacy and improving the safety and cost-effectiveness of healthcare. Support from the public is needed to determine the successful development of this technology and its implementation in society. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to analyse factors that influence stakeholders' intentions to adopt pharmacogenomic testing in Malaysia. A validated instrument was administered through face-to-face interviews with a total of 421 adult respondents who were stratified according to 2 stakeholder groups: healthcare providers (n = 221) and patients/family members (n = 200). The data were then analysed using SPSS® version 24 software and the advanced multivariate statistical approach of Partial Least Square (PLS) path modelling in order to analyse the complex relationships among variables. Results of the studies indicated that the Malaysian stakeholders had a high amount of trust in the key players (mean score of 5.31), perceived high benefits (mean score of 5.53) and claimed to have high intentions of adopting PGx (mean score of 5.39). The majority of the predictors have significant direct relationships with the intention to adopt PGx, with the exception of moral concerns. Perceived benefits appeared to be the most important direct predictor of the intention to adopt PGx testing (ß = 0.371, P < 0.001) followed by trust in the key players (ß = 0.312, P < 0.001), engagement (ß = 0.272, P < 0.001) and religiosity (ß = 0.133, P < 0.01). In addition, perceived risks also had a direct negative association with the intention to adopt PGx (ß = -0.096, P < 0.05). At the same time, the perceived benefits also served as a mediator for all the other factors except risk. The results provide insights into the multidimensional nature of the determinants of the intention to adopt PGx testing in Malaysia. Although the results showed that the stakeholders in Malaysia were very positive towards PGx testing, they were also cautious about it. The predictors identified in this study can serve as indicators for social acceptance of PGx testing to facilitate the clinical research and implementation of PGx.