Public opinions and gender issue

OBJECTIVE

Gender is an aspect of the natural identity of a person that has been given ample attention in socio-cultural, psychological, and political studies worldwide. Transgender, which is a part of gender issues, is still lacking in information on definitions of transgender, its causes, society's perceptions toward it, and interpretations on transgender action. Transgender is an umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity or expression does not match the sex they have been assigned at birth. It is one of the most important signs of progress produced by scientific advancement in the field of medicine, which is a relatively new phenomenon. Due to the lack of research on transgender, researchers study this issue at the theoretical and public opinion levels and from different perspectives. The objectives are to provide insights into the landscape of gender issues, instill awareness among communities and make them understand the psychological pains and the emotional difficulties that the transgender go through. Transgender issues must be analyzed from the perspectives of humanity, ethics, and culture.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data were gathered through open-ended interviews among nine participants. And to complement the data, particularly about the public's opinions toward the transgender, a focus group discussion (FGD) was held among four participants.

RESULTS

The findings indicate that the transgender community often faces social discrimination due to the social stigma towards them. Thus, the treatment should be more on psychological therapies, family education, community awareness, and social activism that are needed to realign the transgender to the right track.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides insights into the landscape of gender equality and ways to support those with gender identity issues. Hence, this research carries values to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in enhancing the policy on gender equality.

Discordance between Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) and HbA1c in Diagnosing Diabetes and Pre-diabetes in The Malaysian Cohort

OBJECTIVE

In this present study, we aim to evaluate the accuracy of the HbA1c relative to fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in the diagnosis of diabetes and pre-diabetes among The Malaysian Cohort (TMC) participants.

METHODOLOGY

FPG and HbA1c were taken from 40,667 eligible TMC participants that have no previous history of diabetes, aged between 35-70 years and were recruited from 2006 - 2012. Participants were classified as normal, diabetes and pre-diabetes based on the 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Statistical analyses were performed using ANOVA and Chi-square test, while Pearson correlation and Cohen's kappa were used to examine the concordance rate between FPG and HbA1c.

RESULTS

The study samples consisted of 16,224 men and 24,443 women. The prevalence of diabetes among the participants was 5.7% and 7.5% according to the FPG and HbA1c level, respectively. Based on FPG, 10.6% of the participants had pre-diabetes but this increased to 14.2% based on HbA1c (r=0.86; P<0.001). HbA1c had a sensitivity of 58.20 (95% CI: 56.43, 59.96) and a specificity of 98.59 (95% CI: 98.46, 98.70).

CONCLUSION

A higher prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes was observed when using HbA1c as a diagnosis tool, suggesting that it could possibly be more useful for early detection. However, given that HbA1c may also have lower sensitivity and higher false positive rate, several diagnostic criteria should be used to diagnose diabetes accurately.

An action research on promotion of healthy ageing and risk reduction of chronic disease: a need assessment study among rural elderly Malays, care givers and health professionals

OBJECTIVE

Prior to the development of a healthy ageing and risk reduction of chronic diseases intervention package for older people in Malaysia, a need assessment study was conducted to identify nutritional knowledge status and information needs, as part of an action research process.

DESIGN

A cross sectional study was conducted among 267 elderly people, 54 care givers and 66 health professionals in two rural areas of Peninsular of Malaysia (i.e Sabak Bernam, Selangor and Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan). Information on nutritional knowledge was obtained from an interview based questionnaire for older subjects and caregiver and through self administered questionnaire from the health professionals. Anthropometric and functional measurements were also conducted among elderly subjects.

RESULTS

It was found that the elderly subjects had poor nutritional knowledge with 43.8% of them classified as having unsatisfactory nutritional knowledge, followed by moderately satisfactory (33.7%), very unsatisfactory (15.7%) and good (6.7%). Talks, counselling sessions with health professionals and electronic media such as television and radio were the most preferred nutrition education sources among elderly subjects and their care givers. The majority of health professionals studied (98.5%) had good nutritional knowledge. Although most of them (93.6%) were involved in management of the elderly, only 45.5% incorporated nutritional information component in this activity. Most of the health professionals used the guidelines for management of elderly patients (63.6%). However, nutritional knowledge was very minimal in these guidelines. Multiple regression analysis indicated that 'level education', involvement in 'social activities', presence of 'hearing problems', the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) score, having previous 'nutritional information' and 'participation in healthy eating programme' were the major predictors of nutritional knowledge score among elderly subjects.

CONCLUSION

Based on the above findings it is thus, imperative that an appropriate nutritional intervention package and programme be developed so as to help improve nutritional knowledge and subsequently the nutritional status of the rural elderly Malays.