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Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) is commonly used to measure psychological distress among numerous population in which the psychometric properties are unique depending on the characteristics of the population. The English original version of the BSI-18 questionnaire was translated into Malay by a forward-backward translation before a cross-sectional study was conducted among 87 homosexual males in Malaysia through purposive sampling. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to determine the construct validity and Cronbach alpha was obtained to determine reliability. The loading of the items are similar to previous component rotation with minor differences while the Cronbach alpha of each domain ranges from .839 (somatic domain), .845 (depression domain), and .862 (anxiety domain) which suggests good reliability. These findings indicate that the Malay version of BSI-18 is appropriate to measure the psychological distress experienced by sexual minority groups in Malaysia.

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Thalassaemia is a life-long illness that exists globally. The quality of life of adolescents with thalassaemia could differ based on the health policies of a specific region, existing level of socio-economic development and the illness related variables. This study examines the relationship between sociodemographic and disease-related variables with the quality of life among adolescents with thalassaemia involving multiple treatment centers spread throughout various locations in Malaysia. Participants included 218 adolescents (male=108; female 112) with mean age of 13.86 (SD=2.40). They completed the questionnaire consisting of demographic information, illness-related variables, and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL). The participants in this study was found to have higher total summary score (Mean = 69.64, SD = 14.03), psychosocial health (Mean = 70.23, SD = 14.91), emotional (Mean = 72.12, SD = 20.66), social (Mean = 79.82, SD = 17.37), and school (Mean = 58.69, SD = 16.77) functioning but with lower physical health (Mean = 68.50, SD = 17.22) as compared to previous study that was done in Kuala Lumpur. Findings also shows a significant positive correlation between level of education and frequency of hospitalization (r = .156, p < 0.05), frequency of transfusion (r = .152, p < 0.05), and physical health (r = .186, p < 0.01). An increase in the frequency of transfusion was found to significantly increase social functioning (r = .137, p < 0.05). Other significant correlations are discussed in addition to the quality of life experienced by patients with thalassaemia in different region of the world.