Communication about Sex-Reproductive Health Issues with Adolescents: A Taboo among Malaysian Parents?

Abstract

Despite of the various attempts to implement safety practices in school, there still many unresolved issues related to students' safety in schools. This study aimed to explore and examine current safety management practices in Malaysian primary schools and the type of safety management plans adopted by the administrators for ensuring students' safety. The sample of this study consisted of 141 School Headmasters and Deputy Headmasters (Administration and Curriculum, Student Affairs or Co-curriculum), randomly selected from 138 primary schools in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. Quantitative methods were used and the data of school administrators' attitude and stances in implementation of safety management practices were gathered using a set questionnaire. The data was then tabulated, summarized and evaluated to draw conclusions from them, using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Results from the study indicated that there was a strong positive attitude among school administrators in relation to safety management plan and policy practices in school. Teachers' and staffs' participation and parental and community involvement are significantly and positively predicted by school administrators' commitment and communication; as well as safety education, training and campaign at schools. Some of the safety practices investigated in the study were not observed in schools due to increasing workload and responsibilities of teachers and their time availability. Safety practices at the schools mostly depended on the issues that are considered as important by the respective schools. As the implication of this study, some recommendations were made to help schools to improve safety practices at school and promote cooperation between school administrators, teachers, parents and community as a whole. The study also implied that implementation of safety management education in Malaysian primary school has a good prospect.

Associations Between Negative Body Image and Sexual Health Practices in Emerging Adults from Malaysia

“…As sexual abstinence may be one strategy to prevent STI contraction, we first examined whether negative body image was associated with one’s experience of partnered sex. Although the topic of sexual and reproductive health is not openly discussed in Malaysia (Ismail & Abd Hamid, 2016 ), the prevalence rate of sexual experience in our sample (51%) was similar to what has been found in undergraduate students in the United States (~ 50%; Gillen & Markey, 2014 ; Schooler et al, 2005 ). The prevalence rate in the current study was higher than what was found in Durex’s Sexual Health and Intimate Wellness Survey that was conducted with 1089 Malaysians aged 18–30 years from April to May 2022 (Hassandarvish, 2022 ; 35%) and an earlier survey with 1327 students from public universities in Selangor, who were predominantly Muslim (98%) and single (71%; Sham et al, 2020 ).…”

What's in a message: A systemic functional analysis of cancer prevention messages

“…Although a closer assessment reveals that the image does contribute to the verbal information in P4 via an Extension type of text-image relation, more needs to be known as to why the image is used by MOH instead of, for instance, a scientific drawing of the female reproductive organ. Since we have no access to MOH's insights on this, we are of the opinion that the yellow orchid image may have been used to represent women in a culturally appropriate manner, given the context where sex reproductive health issues still remain a taboo among many Malaysians (Ismail & Hamid, 2016). Second, concerning the use of Malay language in the posters: since the posters are in it makes perfect sense that the analysis could also have been done from the Malay perspective.…”

Issues Regarding Adolescents Sexual and Reproductive Health in Sarawak: An Overview

“…Apart from that, there is a limitation when discussing this issue between parents and adolescents as it is deemed as taboo and contradicts with the customs and beliefs (Abd Hamid & Ismail, 2016). This poses a researcher a question: if discussing about sex is forbidden, how do we promote the knowledge of SRH that brings benefit for adolescents?…”