Psychometric Properties of the WHOQOL-BREF Questionnaire among Disabled Students in Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions

This study aims to evaluate reliability, internal consistency and dimensional structure of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) among disabled students. The study covers 127 disabled students studying in public universities, 26 in private universities, 109 in polytechnic and 19 studying in community colleges. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Abbreviation (WHOQOL-BREF) has been used to assess QOL. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha (α) and Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Alpha scores greater than or equal to 0.6 are considered to denote acceptable and adequate internal consistency. Correlation matrix also showed satisfactory results in all domains. Factor analysis was carried out using the principal components method with varimax rotation to examine the dimensional structure of the questionnaire. This study has provided some preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the WHOQOL-BREF to be used for evaluating quality of life among disabled students.     

Mothers' and fathers' childcare involvement with young children in rural families in Malaysia

There is a paucity of data on paternal involvement in childcare in traditional Muslim families in Asia. Using cultural‐ecological models of human development that focus on the developmental niche and hegemonic perspectives on masculinity, mothers' and fathers' levels of childcare involvement with infants were examined in 50 two‐parent, low‐income, rural Malay Muslim families residing in peninsular Malaysia. The major goals were to examine gender of parent and gender of child differences in involvement in childcare activities. Mothers and fathers were interviewed separately in their homes regarding the amount of time and levels of involvement in bedtime routines, physical care of, playing with, singing to, feeding, and soothing infants. Groupwise comparisons of parental perceptions revealed a marked gender‐differentiated pattern of involvement: Mothers perceived that they were significantly more involved in bedtime routines, physical care, feeding, playing, soothing, and singing to infants than did fathers. On average fathers estimated that they spent 18% as much time cleaning infants (0.63 versus 3.50 hours), 22% as much time feeding infants (0.76 versus 3.49), and 56% as much time playing with infants (2.77 versus 4.92 hours) relative to mothers. These patterns of involvement suggest that in traditional, rural Malay Muslim families, mothers are the primary caregivers to infants, and contrary to the father as play partner hypothesis, mothers engaged in more play with infants than did fathers. Despite divergent levels of involvement, mothers and fathers were equally as inclined to be involved with their male or female infants. Findings are interpreted in terms of traditional Muslim beliefs about gendered ideologies regarding childcare roles and levels of paternal involvement in groups of fathers in rural and urban Malaysia. The limitations, due in part to gathering data from single informants and the nature of the sample, and the implications of the findings for increasing paternal involvement are noted.     

Religion and Spirituality in Coping with Advanced Breast Cancer: Perspectives from Malaysian Muslim Women

This article is part of a larger study on the role of spirituality in coping with breast cancer among Malaysian Muslim women. The study seeks to reveal the meaning of the experience through the stories of three Muslim women surviving advanced breast cancer, to better understand the deep meanings that inform their experiences with spirituality and transformation as they cope with the challenges of breast cancer. Data were gathered using in-depth interview. Qualitative methods were used in identifying two themes—illness as an awakening and hope and freedom comes from surrendering to God. The themes were discussed in the context of two broad areas: (1) what are the new meanings these women discovered in their experiences with cancer; and (2) how did the new meanings change their lives? The study suggests that cancer survivors’ experiences with cancer and their learning processes must be understood within the appropriate cultural context. This is especially so for spirituality. The common emphasis of spirituality on relationship with God, self and others, may significantly influence how people learn to live with cancer.     

Examining the impact of social commerce dimensions on customers' value cocreation: The mediating effect of social trust

One of the main aspects of the Web 2.0 revolution has been social commerce that has resulted in many people across the world increasingly engaging with commercial activities over social media platforms. However, the academic and research interest in social commerce is still low, and more studies are required to accelerate awareness of the most important issues relating to social commerce, in particular, social trust and value cocreation. Thus, the present study aims to propose a conceptual model that is intended to enable greater understanding of the causal interactions between social commerce constructs, social trust, and customer value cocreation. We collected data using a sample of 300 followers and fans of online Facebook communities, and we analysed them by using a structural equation model. The results show that social commerce constructs positively impact on social trust. Furthermore, we found that social trust positively impacts on the three dimensions of customer value cocreation. We found that social trust mediates the relationship between the social commerce and customer value cocreation dimensions. The paper presents a considerable theoretical contribution for being the first study that links social commerce constructs with social trust. The linkage between social commerce constructs, social trust, and customer value cocreation dimensions will also be beneficial for social media marketing strategists and managers.     

Are size illusions in simple line drawings affected by shading?

In a number of simple line drawings, such as the Müller-Lyer or Judd figures, we can experience strong distortions of perceived space-geometric illusions. One way of explaining these effects is based on the perspective information that can be read from the line drawings. For instance, the 'inappropriate constancy scaling' theory advocates that the inferred three-dimensional structure of the pictured object is used by the perceptual system to adjust the size of line-drawing components. Such a theory would predict that additional depth cues, for instance shading added to line drawings, should affect these illusions because they influence the three-dimensional appearance. We present here systematic measurements of the magnitude of length misjudgments in horizontal Müller-Lyer and Judd figures for three configurations: (i) pure line drawings, and with shading attached to (ii) the top, and (iii) the bottom of the figures. The latter two configurations are unambiguously interpreted as 'folded' structures with a horizontal edge behind the image plane or protruding from it, respectively. While we could not find any effect of shading in our experimental data, we did observe a length misjudgment in Judd figures that corresponds precisely to the asymmetry that can be observed in the Müller-Lyer illusion for inward and outward fins. This pattern of results is not consistent with notions of inappropriate constancy scaling but is fully coherent with the view that neural filtering mechanisms, which are affecting the perceived position of line intersections, are responsible for this type of geometrical illusions.     

Assessing the quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis in Kuwait: a cross sectional study

The main objective of this paper was to assess the level and the determinants of quality of life (QOL) amongst patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). A cross-sectional study was conducted among a convenience sample of 200 adult MS patients. Inclusion criteria were: MS diagnosis for at least one year, and aged 21+ years. However, exclusion criteria were: having other neurological diseases, serious cardiovascular, orthopedic or other disability precluding participation. Self-administered questionnaire employed MSQOL-54 with two outcomes: Physical Health Composite (PHC) and mental health composite (MHC). Satisfaction with Daily Occupation scale was adopted through face to face interviews. The median of PHC and MHC scores were 48.9/100, and 53.4/100 respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that unemployment was a determinant of poor PHC, while low monthly income was a predictor of poor MHC. Additionally, low endurance and sensory problems were associated with poor PHC, and MHC, while motor problems were allied with only poor PHC. Patient’s satisfaction level with performing activities of daily living was positively associated with PHC and MHC. Assessment of QOL is suggested to be comprised in medical settings.     

Serum beta-amyloid correlates with neuropsychological impairment

AIMS: Evidence suggests a relationship between peripheral Abeta and AD. We hypothesized that higher levels of serum Abeta(1-42) would be associated with memory impairment, thought to occur early in the disease, and rises in serum Abeta(1-40), which occur later, would be associated with impairment in non-memory measures. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design, we examined the relationship of serum Abeta(1-40), Abeta(1-42), and the ratio of Abeta(1-42/1-40) to neuropsychological measures in 40 cognitively normal controls, 13 MCI subjects, and 25 AD patients. RESULTS: Serum Abeta(1-42) and the ratio of Abeta(1-42/1-40) were significantly higher in the MCI group compared to the controls. A significant relationship in the hypothesized direction (poorer scores associated with higher Abeta(1-40) serum levels) was found between Abeta(1-40) and measures of executive functions across the entire cohort of individuals tested and with measures of language and processing speed in the AD group. Regression analysis found that neuropsychological measures accounted for 26% of the variance in serum Abeta(1-40,) in the MCI/AD but not the controls. Furthermore that language and executive measures were significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide preliminary data to partially support our hypotheses and suggest that changes in serum Abeta levels may be attributed to pathological changes within the brain.