title: Influence of Immunology Knowledge on Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle.
abstract: Completing a course in Immunology is expected to improve health care knowledge (HCK), which in turn is anticipated to influence a healthy lifestyle (HLS), controlled use of health care services (HCS) and an awareness of emerging health care concerns (HCC). This cross-sectional study was designed to determine whether these interrelationships are empirically supported. Participants involved in this study were government servants from two ministries in Malaysia (n = 356) and university students from a local university (n = 147). Participants were selected using the non-random purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire, which had been validated in a pilot study involving similar subjects. The questionnaire items were analyzed using Rasch analysis, SPSS version 21 and AMOS version 22. Results have shown that participants who followed a course in Immunology (CoI) had a higher primary HCK (Mean = 0.69 logit, SD = 1.29 logits) compared with those who had not (Mean = -0.27logit, SD = 1.26 logits). Overall, there were significant correlations among the HLS, the awareness of emerging HCC, and the controlled use of HCS (p <0.001). However, no significant correlations were observed between primary HCK and the other variables. However, significant positive correlation was observed between primary HCK and controlled use of HCS for the group without CoI. Path analysis showed that the awareness of emerging HCC exerted a positive influence on controlled use of HCS (β = 0.156, p < .001) and on HLS (β = 0.224, p < .001). These findings suggest that having CoI helps increase primary HCK which influences controlled use of HCS but does not necessarily influence HLS. Hence, introducing Immunology at various levels of education and increasing the public awareness of emerging HCC might help to improve population health en masse. In addition, further investigations on the factors affecting HLS is required to provide a better understanding on the relationship between primary HCK and HLS.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan Campus, Pahang 25200, Malaysia.|Faculty of Nursing, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Noor Lide
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Abu Kassim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan Campus, Pahang 25200, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Afiqah Binti
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Saleh Huddin
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur 53200, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jamal Ibrahim
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Daoud
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, University Malaya, Jalan Universiti, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Tariqur
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3600-3265
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Rahman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000486:Allergy and Immunology / Q000193:education*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult