Creating a New Health Promotion Module to Help the Indigenous People of Selangor Prepare for Disease X and Outbreaks

Summary

The goal of this cluster randomized trial is to develop and test a new method for preparing indigenous (locally termed as Orang Asli) households in Selangor, a state in Malaysia, for outbreaks and Disease X, a potential unknown infectious threat. It aims to determine if the new method, a health education package comprised of workshops, simulation exercises, and card game play sessions, can enhance the readiness of these families for such outbreaks.

The main questions it is looking to answer are:

1. Will the intervention package increase the level of preparedness for a Disease X and outbreaks among indigenous households in Selangor?
2. Will the intervention improve the awareness and attitudes of the indigenous people in Selangor towards outbreak preparedness?
3. Will it lead to more proactive preparedness actions by these households?

To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention package, researchers will compare outcomes between two groups: the intervention group receiving both the intervention package and educational brochures on communicable disease prevention, and the control group receiving only the brochures.

Participants will:

1. Participate in the activities in the newly developed intervention package, which would include workshops, simulation exercises, and card game play sessions.
2. Answer surveys four times: before, immediately after, 1 month after and 2 months after the intervention, to measure any changes in their preparedness levels for an outbreak.

Conditions

• Attitude to Health
• Behavior, Health
• Health Behavior
• Health-Related Behavior
• Health Attitude
• Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
• Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
• Preparedness
• Outbreaks

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Outbreak Preparedness Intervention for the Orang Asli

The chosen villages will be given the intervention package, which includes a workshop, simulation exercises, and a card game, in addition to educational brochures on communicable disease prevention sourced from the Ministry of Health Malaysia "Info Sihat" website. This entire package will be delivered once, during the workshop, after they have answered the survey at T0.

BEHAVIORAL

Educational Brochures for the Orang Asli

The chosen villages will be given educational brochures on communicable disease prevention sourced from the Ministry of Health Malaysia "Info Sihat" website. This will be given once during the first encounter with the participant, after they have answered the survey at T0.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ministry of Health, Malaysia

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Universiti Putra Malaysia

  collaborator OTHER

• Institute for Health Behavioural Research

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Department of Orang Asli Development

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Universiti Teknologi Mara

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ameerah Su'ad Abdul Shakor · Universiti Teknologi Mara

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

99 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-06-30

Primary Completion

2025-09-30

Completion

2025-09-30

Countries

• Malaysia