Chronic Disease Management Behaviours among Malaysian Low-Income Workers: A Descriptive Study
Authors: Abu Bakar Azrin Shah , Abdul Rahman Haliza , Kadir Shahar Hayati , Mohd Nazan Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq , Idris Khairuddin 
Published: November 2022

Chronic disease is a global issue and is a growing concern in the world, including Malaysia. It is one of the most common causes of decreased quality of life, disability, and mortality [1]. Moreover, it has become a common problem in the community, especially among low-income households in Malaysia. Some evidence demonstrates that health problems associated with low-income workers are obesity, high body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, coronary heart disease and cancer [2-12]. Prevention is better than cure; therefore, chronic disease management behaviours play a pivotal role dealing with the diseases and improving quality of life. Given the above scenario, it is crucial to understand chronic disease management behaviours. This study aims to assess the level of chronic disease management behaviours among low-income workers in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 support staff in the selected ministries in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The sampling technique was random cluster sampling, and the data was collected via online platforms from July 2021 to November 2021. Respondents received a questionnaire comprising two sections: (1) Sociodemographic data, (2) Self-management disease by the Chronic Illness Resources Survey (CRIS). Socio-demographic data included gender, age, ethnicity, level of education, marital status, and total monthly household income. Chronic Illness Resources Survey (CRIS) adapted from (13), which requires the respondents to rate their self-management disease from (1) Not at all to (5) A great deal consists of eight items. The items were measured on health care, planning and disease management goals. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data using IBM SPSS version 26.0. The quantitative data were analysed descriptively for frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Most of the respondents were females (73.6%), Malay (95.0%), married (72.5%), aged between 30 to 39 years old (61.8%), had monthly household incomes ranging from RM 2501 – RM3000 (25.0%) and had educational levels of STPM/ Matriculation/ Diploma (43.6%). Table 2 indicates that more than half of the respondents (53.2%) had a high level of chronic disease management behaviours. This finding indicates that most respondents had good non-communicable disease management behaviours (Mean =3.73, SD =0.769). Table 3 shows that respondents had a higher score for items such as ‘I use prayer/ worship or meditation in managing the disease’, ‘I spend time taking care of my health and doing the things I enjoy’, ‘Chronic disease behaviours management is important to me in managing disease’ and ‘I focus on the things I do well to manage the disease’. Whereas the moderate score is ‘I reward myself for managing illness’, ‘I share with others about disease management’, ‘I evaluate or think about my accomplishments in achieving goals for disease management” and I arrange the schedule so that it is easy to manage the disease’. From these data, it is clear the respondents taking care of their health.

It can be concluded that most respondents had good non-communicable disease management behaviours. The reason for these findings may be due to the current health issues about non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases, leading them to possibly adopting a new normative lifestyle in daily life. While their chronic disease management behaviours are good, they still need to be improved. Therefore, it is important to continuously apply chronic disease management behaviours in daily life for improving health. This step will ensure longer life expectancy and better quality of life. Besides, the government should continue their efforts in raising awareness on health management among the community, especially among the low-income in Malaysia. The study has contributed additional knowledge to the current literature about chronic disease management behaviours. This finding showed that respondents had good non-communicable disease management behaviours. The reason for these findings may be due to the current health issues about non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases have led to them possibly adopting a new normative lifestyle in daily life. Nonetheless, chronic disease management behaviours are good, but they still need to be improved. Therefore, it is important to continuously apply chronic disease management behaviour in daily life for improving health. This will ensure longer life expectancy as well as better quality of life. Besides that, the government should continue their efforts in raising awareness on health management among the community, especially low-income in Malaysia.