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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everyone’s routines, including frontline workers, causing psychological distress and lowering their quality of life. As a result, this research was conducted to determine the meaning of life and the courage of Malaysian COVID-19 frontliners. Using purposive and snowball sampling, twenty-one frontliners from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were recruited for this interpretative phenomenology study. The findings indicate that Malaysian frontliners derive meaning from the human connection in their professional and personal lives, which instills a feeling of dedication as they contribute to social welfare, particularly during this critical period. In addition, they engage in spiritual activities and maintain a positive attitude to achieve life satisfaction, which is regarded as a component of their life’s meaning. Furthermore, frontline workers are courageous in fighting the pandemic because it is their obligation, and they have a strong family and coworkers’ support system. While frontliners must maintain their psychological well-being, they are subjected to work hazards daily, contributing to their impression of courage. The findings could provide an outreach program organized by the government through webinars. In that manner, it would allocate a sense of reassurance to the frontliners. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the perception of meaning in life and the courage of the Malaysian COVID-19 frontliners to rekindle their work spirit despite experiencing an overwhelming workload objectively.

This study was conducted to investigate the attitudes and perceived social norms regarding risk behaviours as well as to ascertain how social context influences their likelihood to adhere to perceived social norms. The study adopted a qualitative methodology with a phenomenological design. The study applied purposive and snowballing sampling methods, and in-depth interviews were conducted among six participants. Findings indicated that students' attitudes towards risk-taking behaviours were mainly positive due to the perception that they knew their limits and were able to restrain their use for social and recreational purposes. Those with negative attitudes had negative experiences due to obsessive engagement in the behaviour. This study suggests the importance of having an open discussion surrounding risk-taking behaviours and the need to educate university students and understand the thought process regarding their attitudes towards risk-taking behaviours.

Work and personal life are usually perceived as mutually incompatible domains, needing to be maintained in clear segregation for the experience of stress-free living. However, with evolving occupational demands, advancements in communication technology, and the threat of career obsolescence, dictating the norms of organisational cultures, the boundary separating the work domain from the home domain is nowadays indistinct. Thus, this study has been conducted using the qualitative phenomenological study to explore the influence of organisational culture on the work-life balance of academics. Thus, five married full-time academicians at Kuala Lumpur, employed for a minimum of one academic semester, were involved in a semi-structured interview. The present study found that work demands would usually lead to reduced involvement with the family. Academicians would mostly compensate by negotiating with their family members for quality time in the future. Mostly, the experience of work-life conflict would occur in the direction of work to family, rather than the other way around. Thus, academicians also revealed occasionally externalising their stress toward family members as a result of work-related emotions impinging on their emotional state at home. The findings of this study highlight the importance of implementing work-life balance strategies and fostering an organisational culture focused on the satisfaction of employees rather than strictly organisational objectives.

Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Studies, 23, 1, 104-113

The economic downturn causes a fluctuation of Malaysian beggars with disrupted psychological states. The research focuses on happiness, subjective well-being, and gratitude among the beggars in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Ten beggars participated in an in-depth interview. Their selection was based on a purposive sampling technique. Findings show that with life satisfaction and maintained health conditions, they would be contented. Intolerable circumstances currently made the beggars wishing they could restart an ideal life to restore their subjective well-being. Amidst gratefulness, beggars tend to wake up with an appreciation for every little thing. However, the limited psychological care given has caused the number of beggars to escalate. The number of beggars would dwindle by appraising the public with what they necessitate through an awareness brought by findings from the study.

Refugee crisises have affected nearly every nation in the world. The recent influx of refugees into Malaysia is concerning as the government does not legally acknowledge refugees’ legal status. This brings about several questions regarding their survivability in Malaysia, in addition to whether the existing systems and policies are able to accommodate their needs for healthcare, education, and economic opportunity. Although they may have escaped torture and persecution in their own countries, they would still have to face hardships as a refugee in Malaysia. This paper will discuss the life of refugees in Malaysia from the; health, education, economic status, and social life aspects.

Hajj is the largest Muslim pilgrimage to Macca, Saudi Arabia and the longest gathering in the world. Every year nearly two million Muslims from over 140 countries visit Macca to perform their hajj during the Hajj season. Generally, the pilgrims are accompanied by family members, friends, or solo. At the same time, they will also interact and socialize with other individuals from different countries and cultures. In this situation, the activities performed are quite complex and they interact frequently and cause pilgrims to experience complex and dynamic emotions. Hajj worship also provides them with a mystical and spiritual experience. It also tends to affect and express the various emotions within the pilgrims during the pilgrimage. This article discusses various forms of emotion that are reported or observed during spiritual experiences and will relate to the more specific discussions in the context of pilgrimage.

Adolescents' ability to converse and form meaningful connections with others, as well as to keep up a social network that helps them to avoid isolation, is greatly aided by their level of social well-being. Juvenile delinquents with conduct disorder exhibit more psychopathology and commit more serious crimes than those without a conduct disorder diagnosis. However, it has been proven that positive peer interactions lessen behaviour problems in adolescents where the negative behaviour in teenagers can be diminishes with increased peer support. To explore how the juvenile sex offenders with conduct issues socialized with peers, seven juvenile sex offenders between the age of 14 to 17 with conduct issues were participated in interviews. The data were collected from two detention centers in Selangor and Perak, Malaysia, and analysed using thematic analysis. This study found that social well-being includes social interaction, peers support, closeness in peer relationships, peer acceptance, and a sense of belonging among juvenile sex offenders with conduct issues in detention centers. It is concluded that social well-being is vital in building emotional resilience among juvenile sex offenders with conduct issues. Positive social well-being allows adolescents to move forward and self-growth while negative social well-being regresses the individual in cognitive, and socio-emotional development. The findings demonstrated the significance of adolescents' social well-being, which helps them maintain their health and develop social and emotional abilities in the detention centre.

Early intervention programme (EIP) are a range of different programmes included different types of therapy and education that aimed to help and support children with developmental delays or other specific health conditions. The programmes are helpful to improve children development and adaptability, enhance family capability in handling the special needs children and increase family and children participation in society. This research aims to discover the effectiveness and importance of the early special education in Malaysia. To meet the objectives of this study, a qualitative research using phenomenological approach has conducted on five special needs teachers who work in a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) early intervention centre in Johor, Malaysia by using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the collected data. This research found that improvement in attention and behaviours, self-care skills, social interaction skills of special needs children are the effectiveness of early intervention services. Besides that, providing knowledge and happiness to the parents and preparing for integration into kindergarten and future schooling are also some of the effectiveness. The implications of this study consist of contributing significantly to the community by making people understand the effectiveness and importance of sending special needs children to the EIP. It is important for the parents to realise the importance of sending their special needs children to the EIP as earlier as possible as learning occur effective before six years old and behavior more likely to be trained. Keywords: early intervention services, early special education, special needs children

Psychological Operation (PSYOP) is a strategic effort aimed at persuading and manipulating attitudes and behaviours of a target audience. The nature of Psychological Operation inhibits scientific analyses of its capabilities and effectiveness, resulting in scepticism of PSYOPs ability to influence. The current study explores the development of persuasive arguments and effectiveness of security forces’ PSYOP engagement during the Al-Maunah hostage crisis in Sauk, Perak in the year 2000. Through an in-depth interview with a member of the operation, it was identified that security forces employed multiple influence tactics in order to persuade the enemy to surrender. This included exploiting the emotional impact of music, moral appeal through family pleas, and the manipulation of environmental conditions via harassing fire. The findings suggest that factors such as the identification and exploitation of the enemy’s vulnerabilities had contributed to a successful PSYOP. Though not without its flaws, the operation effectively destabilized the enemy and paved the way for a face-to-face negotiation, resulting in the enemy surrendering with minimal casualty. The research overall provides scientific evidence on the effectiveness of PSYOP when executed with sufficient psychological knowledge. The research has implications for understanding the mechanisms of a successful tactical Psychological Operation. This sets a precedent for security forces to evaluate past and future psychological engagements, allowing for a scientifically grounded assessment of Malaysia’s PSYOP capabilities. In general, the research has important implications for developing the general theory of persuasion and contributes to the overall hypothesis of PSYOP in its effectiveness of influencing a target audience.

Romantic relationships have become one of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction and well-being as couples provide social and emotional support to one another. However, the level of intimacy between couples might decline due to increasing commitment over the years of marriage. When the level of intimacy decreases, negative consequences might happen which includes separation, divorce, as well as physical or mental health problems. It is common for individuals to get involved in romantic relationships; therefore, individuals need to understand the components that facilitate a positive relationship to minimize negative consequences from happening. Besides, having good romantic relationships enables individuals to be more satisfied with their life and improve their well-being. This paper discusses about the different factors that contribute to relationship satisfaction such as socioeconomic status, breadwinner arrangement in family, attachment styles, communication skills, physical appearance, cultural differences, duration of marriage and presence of children in marriage. This paper also specifically analyse and discuss how a positive state and mindset can contribute to positive relationships.

Juvenile delinquency is always seen as a public health problem which needs intervention at various levels. Identifying which factors may lead juveniles to delinquency is a long-standing question among criminologists. This remains the case in Malaysia. There are studies that have explored the impact of problem-solving skills, low socioeconomic status, and gender differences in predicting the delinquent behavior of youth in Malaysia. However, very few studies have aimed to find an in-depth understanding of the effects of family roles and peer pressure on delinquency in Malaysia. The present qualitative research was designed to fill this gap in the literature. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 young male prisoners (juvenile delinquents) in Malaysia to explore the influences of family life and peer pressure on delinquency. The current study showed that parental un-involvement, parent separation, peer pressure, criminal gang membership, and parents’ involvement in crime were the important factors for involvement in delinquency. The findings revealed the importance of guidance and counseling for parents and adolescents, to help them cope with life challenges and to build their social and emotional skills, as well as the necessity of appointing school psychologists and public health experts to help the youths become valuable individuals.