Page 87 - MJHP MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH PROMOTION Volume 2, 2020

MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH PROMOTION Volume 2, 2020

three months and longer, and PRP based in retail settings but currently
on attachment in health clinics. Data accessed from the head office of
JKWPKL&P reveals that there are a total of 158 registered pharmacists
working in all 17 health clinics in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Name list
of these pharmacists is also obtained from the head office. All pharmacists
in the name list fulfilling the inclusion criteria are recruited as participants.
In total, data of 156 participants have answered the questionnaire. Two
participants are dropped out due to their absence from the facility for long-
term leave.
All study sites, namely all of the 17 health clinics, have been visited
to obtain consent from participants and to administer the questionnaire.
Appointments are scheduled among the investigators and the pharmacists-
in-charge before visitation. Participants are informed about the study
goals and issues of confidentiality prior to being given questionnaires.
Questionnaires are answered anonymously by participants in a room with
privacy to avoid distractions. There was no time limit given for participants
to complete the questionnaires but all participants are able to submit within
20 minutes. Completed questionnaire is placed in a sealed envelope and will
be collected by investigator. The clinics have been visited repeatedly in order
to collect responses from participants who are not available in the previous
visits until response has collected from all participants under JKWPKL&P.
No incentives are given to the study participants. The study is approved by
the Medical Research and Ethics Committee of Ministry of Health Malaysia
(NMRR--18-1275-40588) (IIR).
The associations among the independent and dependent variables
that are analysed in this study is summarized in Figure 1. The independent
variables include the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants,
including sex, age, religion, years of service and the HIV-related training
received by participants. The trainings consist of the subjects of HIV stigma
and discrimination, infection control and universal precautions, participants’
informed consent, privacy and confidentiality as well as key population
stigma and discrimination. In addition, the health facility environment was
assessed by asking participants’ experience of servicing PLHIV in the past
12 months, observing healthcare workers unwilling to care, provide poorer
quality of care and talk badly for PLHIV. Hesitancy of healthcare workers
in their own facility to work alongside a co-worker living with HIV was
assessed. Another independent variable is health facility policies, including

81