Page 68 - JOURNAL OF HEALTH MANAGEMENT SUPPLEMENT: SEPTEMBER 2021

SEPTEMBER 2021, SUPPLEMENT, JOURNAL OF HEALTH MANAGEMENT
SEPTEMBER 2021, SUPPLEMENT, JOURNAL OF HEALTH MANAGEMENT
e-­‐poster
BM108 e-­‐Poster
OT012
Abstract Category: Biomedical Science
Abstract Category: Others
Islamic Fasting Approach on Weight Loss Intervention – Experience Through the Lens of Participants
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Johari, M. Z. , Sulaiman, N. S. , Abdullah, S. R. , Khalil, M. K. N. , Wan Mohd Zin, R. M. , Mohd Yunus, S.
The Scope and Range of Methodology of Qualitative Health Research Undertaken in Malaysia
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N. N. , Kamaruddin, H. , Norshamsul, N. I. , Azizul, N. H.
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Low, L. L. , Tong, S. F. , Fun, W. H. , Chong, D. W. Q., Mohd Tauhid, N. , Lim Abdullah, K. , Cheong, A.
1 Centre for Health Communications and Informatics Research, Institute for Health Behaviour Research, National
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Institutes of Health
2 1 Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research, National Institutes of
Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health
Health
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Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
3 University of Malaya
Introduction
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Universiti Putra Malaysia
Weight loss is a natural process of weight management in life but the process and effectiveness varies
from individual to individual. This study attempts to assess the effectiveness of an Islamic approach of
Introduction
the sunnah fasting (Mondays and Thursday) combined with healthy plating as part of a weight loss
Qualitative research has gained prominence and becomes more popular because of the increase in
intervention through the views of the participants.
awareness of its contribution to the health sector. Nevertheless, to significantly impact advancing
evidence-­‐based healthcare, qualitative research beyond descriptive analysis is often needed. We
Method
reviewed the scope and described a range of methodology used in qualitative health research
This qualitative study takes on exploratory approach in obtaining feedback from selected participants
undertaken in Malaysia.
of the intervention. Four groups of participants (two successful and two unsuccessful) were invited in
separate Focus Group Discussions (FGD) to give their experiential feedback after completing the
Method
intervention. FGDs were recorded verbatim and transcribed. Data was blind and axial coded before
Databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Embase and CINAHL were searched using keywords of Malaysia,
thematically analyzed.
qualitative, "mixed-­‐method", "thematic analysis", "grounded theory", "narrative inquiry”,
“ethnography”, or “phenomenology” from January 1999 to July 2019. All articles describing
Result
qualitative methodology or mixed method healthcare research undertaken in Malaysia were
In total 21 participants were interviewed. Four themes emerged -­‐ efficacy towards intervention,
included in this review. We tracked the number of published qualitative articles over the last 20
barriers and facilitators to success, support and sustainability. Participants who were success attributed
years. Besides, we also described the Scimago Scientific Ranking scores (SJR 2019) and tier
having a strong support system at home or at work and the sense of competitiveness as the main key
classification of the journal where these studies were published as a surrogate measurement of the
to who were successful. Similarly, the same attributes are also the reason to those who did not
impact of Malaysian qualitative study publications on science.
succeed in losing the prescribed weight. Most suffered difficulty of at least one month to adapt to the
intervention. Sporadically in both groups stated the intervention is sustainable for a long period.
Result
Individual motivation plays a strong role in the success or failure in weight loss.
We retrieved a total of 2,519 articles, and only 337 articles were retained for the final analysis. The
Discussion
main reason for exclusion was non-­‐healthcare discipline. The publication of qualitative research
Islamic fasting is perceived to be a viable intervention to weight loss and its success is driven both by
increased over the years. It grew from only one article in 1999 to an average of 40.2 articles per year
individual motivation and a strong support system to be sustainable.
from 2014 to 2018. Most of these studies were published in Tier 1 (50%), followed by Tier 2, 3 and 4
(32%, 13% and 4%, respectively).
Keywords: weight loss, Islamic fasting, qualitative, effectiveness, sustainability

Discussion
Although there had been an increase in the number of qualitative studies, the majority of them had
been exploratory/thematic in nature and published in Tier 1 journals. For an in-­‐depth understanding
of the phenomena studied, research methods based on Creswell's qualitative inquiry (narrative
inquiry, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study) should be encouraged.

Keywords: Qualitative Research, Health, Malaysia

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