Table 1. Baseline socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.
| Characteristics | Intervention group (n = 121) |
Control group (n = 121) |
P value |
|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Gender | |||
| Male | 107 (88.4) | 108 (89.3) | 0.838a |
| Female | 14 (11.6) | 14 (10.7) | |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Malay | 64 (52.9) | 53 (43.8) | 0.036b |
| Chinese | 39 (32.2) | 59 (48.8) | |
| Indian | 14 (11.6) | 8 (6.6) | |
| Others | 4 (3.3) | 1 (0.8) | |
| Education level | |||
| Less than Bachelor degree | 71 (58.7) | 93 (76.9) | 0.004a |
| Bachelor degree and above | 50 (41.3) | 28 (23.1) | |
| Monthly Income (RM) | |||
| <1500 | 21 (17.4) | 39 (32.2) | 0.071a |
| 1500–2499 | 29 (24.0) | 28 (23.1) | |
| 2500–3499 | 32 (26.4) | 29 (24.0) | |
| 3500–4999 | 18 (14.8) | 12 (9.9) | |
| >5000 | 21 (17.4) | 13 (10.7) | |
| Employment Status | |||
| Unemployed | 13 (10.7) | 18 (14.9) | 0.473a |
| Self-employed | 19 (15.7) | 17 (14.0) | |
| Government employee | 14 (11.6) | 7 (5.8) | |
| Private organization employee | 70 (57.9) | 75 (61.9) | |
| Others | 5 (4.1) | 4 (3.3) | |
| Residential Location | |||
| Rural | 11 (9.1) | 16 (13.2) | 0.544a |
| Semi-urban | 43 (35.5) | 44 (36.4) | |
| Urban | 67 (55.4) | 61 (50.4) | |
| Age (years), mean ± SD | 32.1 ± 8.7 | 34.7 ± 9.5 | 0.031c |
aP value obtained by chi-square test.
bP value obtained by Fisher’s exact test (FET).
cP value obtained by student t- test for independent samples.
RM = Ringgit Malaysia