My Final Year Project (FYP) for Psychology is complete

Posted in Adult Learning, Ponderings & Personal Development by

When I first started, it was difficult to envision the end. Eventually, I did. All I had to do was take it one step at a time, holding the hand of my supervisor.

I studied motivation among the staff at my clinic. The biggest hurdle when conducting any study at a KKM facility is that I need to get approval from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee (MREC). That means having to set up a National Medical Research Register (NMRR) account and doing another set of study protocols based on what I have already written for Chapters 1 to 3 for my Open University Malaysia (OUM) subject. Once the study protocol was written and the relevant early permission was granted from my superior at the workplace and the district health office, I had to submit these documents to NMRR. I had to revise my protocol and my consent forms twice. It was disheartening at first because I was running out of time. I initially wanted to complete my FYP in 2 semesters, but I do not have control over the technical aspects of other things. This became my second hurdle.

I learned to accept that some things are just out of our control. The things I could control at the time were my reading and understanding of the topic through literature reviews. I also tried my best to perfect my chapters. I used a thesaurus a lot because the words I used were, at times, less academic. Even then, everything just comes together. The ethical approval came just in time when I wanted to start my data collection.

The data collection period was exhausting. I had to transcribe on my own. I had to squeeze in the tasks of analysing, transcribing, and reading the data between the times of the early morning, after work, and over the weekend. Writing up the report was an equally exhausting stage as I tried to make sense of what my results were. It got to the point when my sympathetic responses went into overdrive mode. However, the euphoria of being absorbed in the process and fully understanding what I wanted to achieve kept me going. There were certainly some things I initially overlooked, which just underscores how vital it is to have an engaged SV. I’ve had my sights set on this SV ever since my semester studying social psychology. She was one of the first people I considered when we were selecting our SVs, and it turned out to be an excellent decision. You can genuinely feel the positive energy of an exceptional SV radiating from her. A hallmark of a great SV is her ability to guide me through complex topics, even outside her field, ensuring that external readers can easily grasp the concepts.

Towards the deadline, there was a lot of ping-pong going on with our emails but we persevered. I felt a huge relief when I submitted my report to OUM. On the day itself.

Is this the end of my FYP? Technically yes, but remember the NMRR and MREC I mentioned earlier. Now I have to submit a report to them. I hope I can use my OUM report instead of re-doing it with a different format. I will check on it soon.

Celebrating Ee’s Birthday at IOI Mall

Posted in Parenting, Family and Relationships by

We celebrated Ee’s birthday recently during his weekend outing at IOI Mall Putrajaya. He really wanted to eat Nandos because of the well-seasoned chicken and the bottomless yoghurt. Haneem shared the quarter chicken meal with me because she was in a bad mood. But I did order extra Yuzu chicken wings on the side. We also shared a glass of bottomless soft drinks.

Before that birthday lunch, we had pastries at La Boheme Cafe.

I asked Ee if he wanted anything else for his birthday. A new T-shirt or underwear, or something. He said he didn’t need any.

He did ask me to bring the Mahathir biography book and the Lat comic for his group project. They are doing a skit on “Idols”. I suggested a more contemporary and young figure like Khairul Aming but it seems that the members are keen to proceed with Tun M.

Ee has always been a quiet boy. Lately, I can see that he is also growing smarter ( they should, right?). He can solve his problems better nowadays. I think Mr Husband was surprised that he did not bring his laundry basket during his latest outing. He said he was able to wash them all. Even I was surprised. Of course, this is probably one of those rare occurrences but it is still good to know that he knows how to manage his time. He is also doing the workbooks that my husband bought. It is something to keep his mind going and prepared for SPM (in 4 years). There is still doubt that KPPN will be able to address this particular concern raised by the parents since they are quite hooked up in ‘theories’ and ‘ideas’ of genius upbringing. I mean, it is fine if you have a unique pathway for the students but if you are still going to put them in the same pool at the university level, there is nothing special about KPPN after all.

It’s like you made the effort to send your child to Genius Aulad for a headstart and yet choose to send the child to mainstream schooling. Might as well keep up the momentum to private school or send the child to a less expensive kindergarten in the first place.

HIV Programme – a rotten tomato rating to myself

Posted in All in a days work, Ponderings & Personal Development by

I wanted to host my HIV programme in a different format this year. Instead of another aerobics session with a public talk, I made it into an organised CME session. The turnout was bad as I overlooked certain things that could have made a difference. Less than 10 people attended the talk.

  • NO hype. There was no hype built around the programme. Hence, people were not excited to attend the session and just cited ‘being busy’ or ‘patient ramai’ as an excuse. I could do better by explaining what World AIDS Day is and emphasising the importance of healthcare worker’s support.
  • Existing HCWs do not see their role in HIV care. To them, it is a distant thing managed purely by myself, Dr Minci and members of my team. While it is true that we coordinate patient’s care, other healthcare professionals are equally important in managing these cases.
  • Team spirit. It is noticeably lacking as compared to my NCD team. Perhaps it is predominantly male making them less enthusiastic about the frills of any celebration.

Anyway, InsyaAllah I can do better in 2025. I will be having a new co-champion. I hope that everything goes well. Amin.

House Maintenance

Posted in Everyday Life, Home Management by

Like any homeowner, the challenge in keeping the house is to keep track of what maintenance is needed for it to glow as a safe haven for the family. It’s like a wife/mother keeping the household together with her cooking, cleaning, and doing all sorts of feminine things. Husbands have to chip in too.

I repaired my roof recently.

I was fed up with the leak when we got heavy rain. I hate that the leak would damage the walls and encourage mould growth. It took too long for masculine intervention and the damage was ongoing. Hence, I called up this female contractor I knew some time ago. Thankfully she was still in business. She brought her worker along for a view of the problem and explained it to me in simple terms.

She showed me her quotation and I agreed on the price. I am not the type to haggle/argue on the price especially when it is already reasonable and that she is doing a proper job with her team. The leak was fixed in a few hours by waterproofing and fixing the area of concern. Then, I had some parts of the roof replaced as it has sunken and I don’t want it to lead to any wiring problems later on. The latter part was completed in just one sunny day.

InsyaAllah, my next projects are improving the aesthetics of the gazebo and some rooms in the house. Perhaps we can use what we already have for a fresh coat of paint and decor. I look forward to a more festive and inclusive Ramadan/Eid Celebration next year. Of course, in the long term, it is to have a comfortable early retirement life at home with the husband, children and cats.