Malaysian Primary School Children Research Articles

High prevalence of xerophthalmia linked to socio-demographic and nutritional factors among vitamin A-deficient rural primary schoolchildren in Malaysia

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains a major health issue in developing nations, contributing to preventable childhood blindness. However, there is lack of recent data on xerophthalmia, especially among school-aged children in Malaysia. We hypothesized that xerophthalmia persists among rural schoolchildren in Malaysia and potentially associated with socio-demographic status and malnutrition. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 596 schoolchildren (8-12 years) from ten rural primary schools located in five states across Malaysia. Children meeting the criteria for xerophthalmia assessment included those diagnosed with vitamin A deficiency (VAD) (plasma retinol < 0.70 µmol/L) and marginal VAD (plasma retinol 0.70 to < 1.05 µmol/L). The overall prevalence of xerophthalmia was 48.8%, with the most common ocular sign being conjunctival xerosis (38.9%). The occurrence of xerophthalmia was negatively associated with retinol-binding protein 4 (RPB4) (P=0.003), alpha-carotene (P=0.04), hemoglobin (P=0.004), weight (P=0.02), body mass index (BMI) (P=0.04) and WAZ (weight-for-age z-score) (P=0.04) status. Based on multivariate logistic regression analysis, a higher risk of xerophthalmia was observed in boys (Adjusted odd ratio [AOR]: 1.7, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2-2.5) and Orang Asli (OA, indigenous) schoolchildren (AOR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3-3.0), while schoolchildren with overweight/obesity status (AOR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.8) were associated with a reduced risk of xerophthalmia. The present study unveils a high prevalence of xerophthalmia among vitamin A-deficient primary schoolchildren in rural areas of Malaysia, especially among the indigenous community. The identified socio-demographic and nutritional factors associated to xerophthalmia would facilitate the implementation of more targeted interventions in addressing these issues.

Snacking and weight status in Malaysian Chinese primary school children

Snacking and weight status in Malaysian Chinese primary school children

'Eat Right, Future Bright: Nutrition Education Program' (ERFB-NEP) module for aboriginal primary school children in Malaysia.

Nutrition is essential for schoolchildren to reach their full potential psychologically and cognitively. Malnutrition, which is prevalent among aboriginal schoolchildren in Malaysia, can interfere their learning and academic performance. Developing a module to be used during a school-based nutritional intervention program is essential to ensuring that students develop healthy eating habits and lifestyles. Thus, this study aims to develop and validate nutrition education module focusing on aboriginal schoolchildren for the eat right future bright (ERFB) nutrition education program. This cross-sectional study was conducted in three steps: Step 1: development of module based on literature reviews, Step 2: content and face validation of the module by the expert panels, and Step 3: face validation of the module by target users. This study has used the validation form proposed by de Castro. This form consists of seven aspects, two aspects related to content validity and another four aspects related to face validity. A content validity index (CVI) was used to analyze the content validity. Two formulas were used to calculate CVI, which were I-CVI and S-CVI. Meanwhile, the data for module's face used the level of agreement. Both I-CVI and S-CVI obtained more than 0.78 and 0.80, respectively, which indicate that the module has good content validity. Moreover, for face validity, the total of agreement from expert panels and target users was more than 75%, which is considered face validated. In conclusion, the module that has been developed has good content validity and can be used by teachers in teaching appropriate nutrition knowledge to aboriginal primary schoolchildren.

Proposing My Reading Experience Questionnaire (MREQ) as An Instrument to Measure Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension

The reading experience in the Malaysian context is often perceived and understood as being about reading in specific languages. Particularly, research in the field of English as a Second Language is replete with work on reading motivation. However, in this paper, it is argued that reading needs to be seen as going beyond language, setting reading as an experience rather than an ability. This paper therefore sets out to validate the My Reading Experience Questionnaire (MREQ) through a discussion of the questionnaire design as well as the statistical data validation based on the questionnaire items. From there, reading motivation levels of primary school children in Malaysia is analysed. 544 primary school children aged 8 and 11-yearsold completed the MREQ . Findings from the questionnaire were matched with the Malay language reading comprehension levels of these children. Both the validation and comparisons showed that the MREQ not only gauges reading motivation levels but also reveals the complexities that come with Malaysia’s multilingual literacy context in schools. This paper concludes by proposing for the MREQ to continue to be used especially with how its design is underpinned by sociocultural theories of language and literacy. Keywords: reading experience; survey; motivation; multimodality; primary school

High prevalence of malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency among schoolchildren of rural areas in Malaysia using a multi-school assessment approach.

Childhood malnutrition is known as a public health concern globally. The present study aims to assess the anthropometry and blood biochemical status of rural primary schoolchildren in Malaysia. A total of 776 children (7-11 years old) from ten rural primary schools from five states were included in this study. Nutritional outcomes were assessed based on sex, age group and school categories among the children (median age: 9 years (P25:8, P75:10)). The overall prevalence of malnutrition was 53·4 %. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) was recorded at 20·6 and 39·8 % based on retinol and retinol-binding protein (RBP) levels, respectively. Anaemia, iron deficiency (ID), iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) and elevated inflammation were found at 14·9, 17·9, 9·1 and 11·5 %, respectively. Malnutrition, VAD, anaemia, ID, IDA and elevated inflammation were more prevalent among Orang Asli (OA) schoolchildren compared with Non-Orang Asli schoolchildren. Higher occurrences of VAD and anaemia were also found among children aged <10 years. Retinol, RBP, α-carotene, ferritin and haemoglobin levels were lower among undernourished children. Besides, overweight/obese children exhibited a higher level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that OA school children (adjusted OR (AOR): 6·1; 95 % CI 4·1, 9·0) and IDA (AOR: 3·6; 95 % CI 1·9, 6·6) were associated with stunting among this population. The present study revealed that malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and anaemia are prevalent among rural primary schoolchildren in Malaysia, especially those from OA schools and younger age children (<10 years). Hence, more appropriate and targeted measures are needed to improve the nutritional status of these children.

Literacy Uses and Practices of Schoolchildren Living in a Contemporary Malaysian Context

This paper reports the uses and practices of literacy in English of primary schoolchildren in Malaysia. Data was gathered from two children, their parents and the English subject teacher. The results reveal four major findings. First, the results reveal that the students’ experience with out-of-school literacies in English were largely afforded by new technologies Second, popular culture played a considerable role in the students’ out-of-school lives. Third, the students’ engagement with out-of-school texts was influenced by cultural artefacts and social discourses, and fourth, there were also complementing and contrasting literacy practices reflected in both environments. This paper argues that awareness of the students’ uses and practices of English as they participated in different communities may enable teachers to incorporate aspects of out-of-school literacy into the school to facilitate the students’ learning. Additionally, it may also help teachers prepare the students to face the growing challenges of using English in the 21st century.

Characteristics and Association of Gender to Dental and Occlusal Anomalies in Malaysian Primary School Children

Aim: To describe the distribution and association of dental and occlusal anomalies to gender in children of mixed and early permanent dentition. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study with stratified random sampling based on the main ethnic composition involving 413 subjects aged between 9 and 11 years old enrolled in 7 national primary schools in Sungai Buloh, Selangor. A calibrated operator carried out clinical examinations, and study models were fabricated. All dental and occlusal anomalies were recorded accordingly and were analysed using SPSS version 21.0. Pearson chi-square test was used to determine the gender-based differences for various parameters. Results: The reported dental anomalies were supernumeraries and clinically missing teeth (impacted or hypodontia) with a prevalence of 1.5% and 6.3%, respectively. The occlusal abnormalities were: crowding (54.0%), sagittal discrepancies (overjet; increased, reduced, and reversed overjet: 55.5%), vertical discrepancies (overbite; increased, reduced, and open bite: 37.5%) and transverse discrepancies (unilateral and bilateral posterior crossbite: 5.1%). Gender-based differences were not statistically significant to all reported dental and occlusal anomalies (p&gt;0.05). Conclusions: Children in the mixed and early permanent dentition showed various dental and occlusal anomalies with crowding being the highest anomaly. Gender was not associated with any type of dental or occlusal characteristics in the studied population.

Psychometric Properties of the Malay-Language Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Scale: A Confirmatory Study on Malaysian Children

The objective of this study was to validate the translated Malay version of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q-M) scale among Malaysian primary school children using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Q-LES-Q-M measures the level of enjoyment and satisfaction experienced with relation to physical health, feelings, homework, and leisure. The participants were 607 Malay students, 240 (39.5%) boys and 367 (60.5%) girls, with an age range from 10 to 11 years old. The original version of the Q-LES-Q was translated into the Malay language by forward to backward translation procedures with consideration for the local culture and suitable vocabulary for primary school students. The participants then completed the Q-LES-Q-M. CFA was performed using Mplus 8 software. Using CFA, the initial model did not result in a good data fit. Further analysis of the CFA suggested some changes to the model to improve the fit indices. Model modification included the deletion of three problematic items and co-varying some error items. This resulted in improved fit indices and 40 items remained in the final model. The final model showed good reliability based on two indicators of composite reliability (CR) and Cronbach’s alpha (CA). The factors with their CR and CA were physical activity (CR = 0.857, CA = 0.854), feelings (CR = 0.808, CA = 0.813), homework (CR = 0.837, CA = 0.837) and leisure (CR = 0.742, CA = 0.737). The final measurement consists of 40 items. The retained items were deemed suitable for Malay primary school children. The revised Q-LES-Q-M with 40 items is suitable for measuring the levels of children’s involvement in determining the enjoyment and satisfaction of learning and physical activity.

The Application of Body Movement as a Teaching Tool in Children's Group Singing Lessons

The purpose of this research was to investigate the use of body movements as a teaching tool in the Malaysian primary school's children group singing lessons. This study used a qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six music teachers. Data was analysed using a theme-based analysis of the narratives. The findings demonstrated that body movements helped the children to improve their vocal techniques and achieve a more successful sound in group singing. Music teachers also stated that emphasis on body movement activities in the class helped children to be more involved in singing. Such movements require to be encouraged to improve the quality of music learning. Training programmes for music teachers also require to incorporate body movements as a teaching tool for effective group singing.

Designing Children’s Artwork Performance Model for Primary School Environment in Malaysia

In Malaysia, many parents encourage thier children to pursue science stream rather than art. They perceive that those who study science holds a brighter future in securing a well paying job. Arts has always been a marginalised subject taught in school to be creative. Unfortunately, creativity is not applied to how they think. Children’s artwork performance in general affects their cognitive, pscyhological, behavioral and social development. The aim of this research is to understand children’s perspective towards art and art-making. Here, the main objective is to identify the best model to represent the contributing factors that influence artwork performance among school children at Malaysian primary school. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire. Utilizing a convenience sampling method, 110 students from SK Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Baharu were chosen. Multiple linear regression technique was the analysis adapted in order to achieve the research objective. This research is significant towards identifing the most significant factors which influence children’s participation in art-making. In the near future, the research will be extended to the secondary school children in Malaysia, and fair comparisons will be made within different streams.Keywords: Children Art; Artworks; Artwork Performance Model; Children’s Participation; Malaysian Primary School Children

School-based intervention that integrates nutrition education and supportive healthy school food environment among Malaysian primary school children: a study protocol

BackgroundMalnutrition among school children may contribute to adverse health consequences such as non-communicable diseases, poor cognitive performance, psychological distress and poor quality of life that may persist into adulthood. In order to prevent childhood malnutrition, an intervention programme that integrates nutrition education and healthy school food environment is needed to provide nutrition information and reinforce the skills on healthy eating behaviours in schools. This paper describes a study protocol of a school-based intervention programme that integrates nutrition education and healthy school food environment, namely School Nutrition Programme (SNP). The SNP is a primary prevention programme that promotes healthy lifestyle among primary school children in light of the high prevalence of malnutrition in Malaysian children.Methods/designThis quasi-experimental study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SNP between intervention and comparison groups before and after the SNP, and after a 3-month follow-up. The SNP consisted of two main components, whereby three nutrition education sessions were implemented by trained teachers using three standardised modules, and healthy school food environment was implemented by the canteen food handlers with the provision of healthy menu to children during school recess times. Children from intervention group participated in the SNP, in addition to the standard Physical and Health Curriculum. The comparison group attended only the standardised Physical and Health Curriculum and the school canteen food handlers were reminded to follow the standard canteen guidelines from the Ministry of Education Malaysia. The assessment parameters in evaluating the effectiveness of the programme were knowledge, attitude and practice on nutrition, eating behaviours, physical activity, body composition, psychological distress, cognitive performance and health-related quality of life. Assessments were conducted at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up.DiscussionIt was hypothesised that the SNP would be effective in promoting healthy lifestyle among school children, and further contributes in preventing malnutrition problem, enhancing cognitive performance and improving health-related quality of life among school children. Findings of the present study can be expanded to other schools in future on ways to improve nutrition education and healthy school food environment.Trial registrationUMIN Clinical Trial Registration UMIN000032914 (Date of registration: 7th June 2018, retrospectively registered).Protocol version16th September 2019 & Version 4

The Effects of Brain Breaks on Motives of Participation in Physical Activity among Primary School Children in Malaysia.

Brain breaks is a physical activity (PA) video designed for school settings that is used to stimulate student’s health and learning. The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of brain breaks on motives of participation in PA among primary school children in Malaysia. Purposive sampling was used to divide 159 male and 176 female students aged 10 to 11 years old, mean (standard deviation (SD)) = 10.51 (0.50), from two schools in Kelantan, Malaysia into intervention (n = 183) and control (n = 152) groups. Students undertook brain breaks activities on school days (five minutes per session) spread out for a period of four months. Mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the students’ motives of participation in PA for pre-, mid-, and post-tests using the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale-Youth-Malay (PALMS-Y-M). Mixed factorial ANOVA showed significant changes in enjoyment, F(2, 392) = 8.720, p-value (ηp2) = 0.001 (0.043); competitiveness, F(2, 195) = 4.364, p-value (ηp2) = 0.014 (0.043); appearance, F(2, 392) = 5.709, p-value (ηp2) = 0.004 (0.028); and psychological condition, F(2, 392) = 4.376, p-value (ηp2) = 0.013 (0.022), whereas mastery, affiliation, and physical condition were not significant (p < 0.05). Further post-hoc analysis revealed a significant downward trend in the control group (p < 0.05). Brain breaks is successful in maintaining students’ motives for PA in four of the seven factors.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Malay-Language Transtheoretical Model of Physical Activity among Malaysian Primary School Children.

IntroductionThe transtheoretical model (TTM) is an integrative model of intentional change consisting of stages of change, processes of change, decisional balance and self-efficacy. This study aimed at validating the TTM questionnaires on physical activity for Malaysian children using confirmatory factor analysis.MethodsThe participants were 381 Malay students (188 male; 193 female), aged 10–12 years old, with a mean age of 10.94 (SD = 0.81). The original version of the TTM was translated into the Malay language using forward and backward translation. Certain phrases were adapted based on the local culture and vocabulary suitable for primary school students.ResultsThe final measurement models and their fit indices were: processes of change (CFI = 0.939, TLI = 0.925, SRMR = 0.040, RMSEA = 0.030); decisional balance (CFI = 0.897, TLI = 0.864, SRMR = 0.045, RMSEA = 0.038); and self-efficacy (CFI = 0.934, TLI = 0.915, SRMR = 0.042, RMSEA = 0.032).ConclusionCare must be taken when using the TTM with children, as it has been prevalently validated with adults. The final version of the TTM questionnaire for Malay primary school children had 24 items for process of changes, 13 items for self-efficacy and 10 items for decisional balance.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Internet Addiction (IA) Among National Primary School Children in Malaysia

Internet addiction (IA) is a growing issue with evidence of negative health and social outcomes to the user. However, data is lacking for younger children. This study determined the prevalence of IA among primary school students and its associated factors. A total of 178 school-children aged 11 years old and their parents consented to fill the validated Malay version of the Internet Addiction Test (MVIAT). The prevalence of IA among school-children and parents was 23.0% and 15.7%, respectively. In children, Internet usage was higher during school holidays (120 min/day) than during schooling day (60 min/day). There is a positive and significant correlation of MVIAT scores between children and their parents (r = 0.28, p < 0.001). IA was significantly associated with Malay ethnicity [AOR 2.32 (1.94, 5.78)] and longer duration of Internet use during holidays [AOR 1.02 (1.01, 1.04)] but using the Internet to seek information was less likely to be associated with IA [AOR 0.44(0.20, 0.75)]. Data on Internet addiction among young children can support public policy on Internet addiction. Effort should be taken to prevent IA among younger children by monitoring their Internet usage.

Project Planning and Development of The Health Educational Module (Hem) on Childhood Obesity Management (Com) For Primary School Children In Malaysia: Conceptual Framework

Project Planning and Development of The Health Educational Module (Hem) on Childhood Obesity Management (Com) For Primary School Children In Malaysia: Conceptual Framework

Prevalence of Anaemia and Iron Deficiency among Primary Schoolchildren in Malaysia.

The present study aimed to report the prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency (ID) and to explore the associations among socio-demographic characteristics, nutritional status and inflammation status in the occurrence of anaemia and ID in a nationally representative sample of Malaysian primary schoolchildren. Using data from the South East Asian Nutrition Surveys (SEANUTS), 544 Malaysian children aged 7 to 12 years were included in this secondary analysis. Blood samples were drawn for haemoglobin and serum ferritin analysis while C-reactive protein (CRP) and α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) were measured to detect inflammation. Prevalence of anaemia and ID were 4.0% and 5.2%, respectively. There were significantly more anaemic indigenous bumiputra children (9.9%) than Chinese children (0.6%). Correction for inflammation did not change the prevalence of ID. More overweight/obese children than thin/normal weight children were found to have elevated acute phase protein (APP). Children with elevated inflammatory markers had significantly higher ferritin level than children without inflammation. Periodic health assessments of anaemia and ID at the population level to monitor and clarify the epidemiology of health problems are required to inform public health policies and strategies.

Structuring Elements of Hit or Miss to Identify Pattern of Benchmark Latin Alphabets Strokes

Identification of features in correct alphabet stroke formation is a primary factor in acknowledging handwriting legibility. Hit–or-Miss transform is a morphology operator that is often applied to identify geometric features. Identifying the correct structuring elements (SEs) provides a good geometric feature extraction. Therefore this research proposes to identify generic SEs representing alphabet strokes. The handwriting font used is Syazalina83v3 which is popularly use in teaching writing for lower primary school children in Malaysia. The methodology consists of four phases which are alphabet selection; image pre-processing; manual measurement and hit or miss algorithm with single and various combination of 2x2, 3x3 and 5x5 SE window size; and SEs performance using Pearson correlation. The combination of horizontal and vertical, right diagonal and left diagonal SEs performs well with very strong correlation in detecting Simple Straight Line(SSL), Complex Straight Line(CSL) , Curve Line (CL) and Combination of Curve Line and Simple Straight Line(CLSSL) based on Evan’s correlation guide.

Identification of Risk Factors for Myopia Questionnaire in the Malay Language among Primary School Children in Malaysia

Introduction: This study aimed to develop a questionnaire in Malay language for the identification of risk factors for myopia among primary school children aged 10 to 12 years old in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: The study commenced in October 2012 till Julai 2013 in two main phases. The first phase was a pilot study for the construction of questionnaire items by literature review and discussion with the experts. A total of 103 parents of primary school children were randomly selected to test the comprehensibility of the preliminary questionnaire. The second phase was the actual study which involved parents of 353 primary school children , 132 were parents whose children were myopes and 221 parents whose children were nonmyopes. Results: Discussions with experts in human vision science identified 5 main domains and 71 items for the preliminary questionnaire. A total of 55 items were retained for the actual study phase in view of statistically good correlation (r = 0.4 and above). Predictive validity by chi-square test allowed 28 items to be retained because of significant association with myopia (p &lt;0.05). The correlation coefficient of testretest reliability result was considerably good (r = 0.765) and the validity in 2 categories of risk for myopia showed highly significant predictive validity of the questionnaire (p = 0.000). Conclusion: The developed Malay language questionnaire has good reliability and validity to identify the risk factors for myopia among primary school children in Malaysia.

Mercury Hair Concentration among Primary School Children in Malaysia.

The main concern regarding mercury exposure is the adverse health effect on the developing nervous system. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine hair mercury levels and their association with socio-demographic characteristics, complaints about mercury poisoning symptoms and the fish consumption pattern among children in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 215 school children aged 11 years old. Hair was collected from the children and the total mercury was analyzed using oxygen combustion–gold amalgamation atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Anthropometric data, a fish consumption questionnaire and mercury poisoning symptoms were collected during a personal interview. The mean hair mercury level among primary school children was 0.63 ± 0.59 µg/g with the geometric mean of 0.47 µg/g. A total of 14% of respondents had hair mercury levels above 1 µg/g. A multiple binary logistic regression analysis outlined that fish consumption of at least one meal per week increased the likelihood of having a high mercury level (odds ratio (OR) 3.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–10.4). This study confirms the existence of a mercury burden among Malaysian children and the level is high compared to other regional studies. This study provides important baseline data regarding the mercury level among children in Malaysia.

A novel module for cultivate unity and harmony in multicultural society through arts education

PurposePromoting unity in multicultural society among Malaysians should start from school education since young age. Art through its own variety of approaches could show possibilities in addressing diversity in a community that consists of multiple ranges of racial and cultural backgrounds such as Malaysian community. Arts education is essential for each child because arts cover the entire learning domain – cognitive, psychomotor and affective. Using the advantages of arts in a child’s learning process and its possibilities to create harmony among communities from different races.Design/methodology/approachThe participants were interviewed using a qualitative approach, which consisted of two main questions: What is your perception on this module through participating in this programme? How the module of this programme has influenced you as a Malaysian?FindingsThe proposed module was implemented, and the findings showed that through arts education, the unity and harmony among children in multicultural society could be flourished and strengthened.Practical implicationsIt shows that the proposed arts education module could be used among students from different schooling systems and different races to cultivate unity and harmony among them. At the same time, strengthening the unity among children in multicultural society could bring harmony and peace in future.Originality/valueThis paper is a novel approach that uses arts education as a tool in achieving national agenda to strengthen the unity and harmony among primary school children in Malaysia who are from different races and schooling system.