Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle
Completing a course in Immunology is expected to improve health care knowledge (HCK), which in turn is anticipated to influence a healthy lifestyle (HLS), controlled use of health care services (HCS) and an awareness of emerging health care concerns (HCC). This cross-sectional study was designed to...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2016
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/18029/1/journal.pone.0159767.pdf |
| _version_ | 1825721036998443008 |
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| author | Abu Kassim, N.L. Saleh Huddin, A. Daoud, J.I. Rahman, M.T. |
| author_facet | Abu Kassim, N.L. Saleh Huddin, A. Daoud, J.I. Rahman, M.T. |
| author_sort | Abu Kassim, N.L. |
| collection | UM |
| description | Completing a course in Immunology is expected to improve health care knowledge (HCK), which in turn is anticipated to influence a healthy lifestyle (HLS), controlled use of health care services (HCS) and an awareness of emerging health care concerns (HCC). This cross-sectional study was designed to determine whether these interrelationships are empirically supported. Participants involved in this study were government servants from two ministries in Malaysia (n = 356) and university students from a local university (n = 147). Participants were selected using the non-random purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire, which had been validated in a pilot study involving similar subjects. The questionnaire items were analyzed using Rasch analysis, SPSS version 21 and AMOS version 22. Results have shown that participants who followed a course in Immunology (CoI) had a higher primary HCK (Mean = 0.69 logit, SD = 1.29 logits) compared with those who had not (Mean = -0.27logit, SD = 1.26 logits). Overall, there were significant correlations among the HLS, the awareness of emerging HCC, and the controlled use of HCS (p < 0.001). However, no significant correlations were observed between primary HCK and the other variables. However, significant positive correlation was observed between primary HCK and controlled use of HCS for the group without CoI. Path analysis showed that the awareness of emerging HCC exerted a positive influence on controlled use of HCS (β = 0.156, p < .001) and on HLS (β = 0.224, p < .001). These findings suggest that having CoI helps increase primary HCK which influences controlled use of HCS but does not necessarily influence HLS. Hence, introducing Immunology at various levels of education and increasing the public awareness of emerging HCC might help to improve population health en masse. In addition, further investigations on the factors affecting HLS is required to provide a better understanding on the relationship between primary HCK and HLS. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T05:44:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | um.eprints-18029 |
| institution | Universiti Malaya |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T05:44:14Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | um.eprints-180292017-10-23T00:55:09Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/18029/ Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle Abu Kassim, N.L. Saleh Huddin, A. Daoud, J.I. Rahman, M.T. RK Dentistry Completing a course in Immunology is expected to improve health care knowledge (HCK), which in turn is anticipated to influence a healthy lifestyle (HLS), controlled use of health care services (HCS) and an awareness of emerging health care concerns (HCC). This cross-sectional study was designed to determine whether these interrelationships are empirically supported. Participants involved in this study were government servants from two ministries in Malaysia (n = 356) and university students from a local university (n = 147). Participants were selected using the non-random purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire, which had been validated in a pilot study involving similar subjects. The questionnaire items were analyzed using Rasch analysis, SPSS version 21 and AMOS version 22. Results have shown that participants who followed a course in Immunology (CoI) had a higher primary HCK (Mean = 0.69 logit, SD = 1.29 logits) compared with those who had not (Mean = -0.27logit, SD = 1.26 logits). Overall, there were significant correlations among the HLS, the awareness of emerging HCC, and the controlled use of HCS (p < 0.001). However, no significant correlations were observed between primary HCK and the other variables. However, significant positive correlation was observed between primary HCK and controlled use of HCS for the group without CoI. Path analysis showed that the awareness of emerging HCC exerted a positive influence on controlled use of HCS (β = 0.156, p < .001) and on HLS (β = 0.224, p < .001). These findings suggest that having CoI helps increase primary HCK which influences controlled use of HCS but does not necessarily influence HLS. Hence, introducing Immunology at various levels of education and increasing the public awareness of emerging HCC might help to improve population health en masse. In addition, further investigations on the factors affecting HLS is required to provide a better understanding on the relationship between primary HCK and HLS. Public Library of Science 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.um.edu.my/18029/1/journal.pone.0159767.pdf Abu Kassim, N.L. and Saleh Huddin, A. and Daoud, J.I. and Rahman, M.T. (2016) Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle. PLoS ONE, 11 (7). e0159767. ISSN 1932-6203, DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159767 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159767>. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159767 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159767 |
| spellingShingle | RK Dentistry Abu Kassim, N.L. Saleh Huddin, A. Daoud, J.I. Rahman, M.T. Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle |
| title | Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle |
| title_full | Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle |
| title_fullStr | Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle |
| title_short | Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle |
| title_sort | influence of immunology knowledge on healthcare and healthy lifestyle |
| topic | RK Dentistry |
| url | http://eprints.um.edu.my/18029/1/journal.pone.0159767.pdf |
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