MJM, Vol 70 Supplement 1 September 2015
Knowledge and acceptance of community health intervention
program in Sothern zone in Peninsular Malaysia among District Health Officers
and KEMAS District Officers
Ling MY*, Wan Shakira RH*, Rosnah Ramly**, NadatulIma Z**, Cheong SM*, Lim KK* , Lim KH*, M Fadhli MY*
*Institute of Public Health, 50590, Kuala Lumpur, **Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Introduction: “Komuniti Sihat, Perkasa Negara” (KOSPEN) is a non-communicable disease (NCD) intervention program aimed at reducing the level of behavioural and biological NCD risk factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and acceptance among District Health Officers (DHO) and KEMAS District Officers (KDO) who are the major implementer in the district toward KOSPEN.
Method: The cross-sectional study was conducted from October to December 2014. All DHO and KDO from all districts in Johor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan were recruited. Data was collected using pre-tested validated questionnaires.
Results: 17 DHO and 17 KDO participated in this study. Knowledge wise, all DHO respondents (100%) knew that health screening, no smoking zone and physical activities were the core KOSPEN activities. Among the KDO respondents, majority of them had good knowledge about the core activities of KOSPEN, such as conducting health screenings (100%, n=17), creating no smoking zones (88.2%, n=15) and performing regular exercise (70.6%, n=12). Acceptance wise, majority of DHO rated KOSPEN activities as very good (52.9%, n=9) and good (41.2%, n=7), while70.6% agreed that KOSPEN was effective in overcoming chronic diseases in the community. Apart from that, KDO had rather positive thoughts and views on the KOSPEN program, in which 41.2% (n=7) had rated it as very good and 23.5% (n=4) as good respectively. In addition, more than 80% of them agreed that KOSPEN was effective in overcoming chronic diseases in Malaysia.
Conclusion: This study revealed that DHO and majority of KDO have high level of knowledge and acceptance toward KOSPEN Therefore, the KOSPEN program should be enhanced for nationwide implementation.
