Multidimensional Prayer Inventory: Psychometric Properties and Clinical Applications

Prayer is one of the most important aspects of religious/spiritual life. The psychological literature has identified various types of prayer and a few methods for measuring it. The Multidimensional Prayer Inventory (MPI) has received much attention from researchers since it allows for the capture of the most universal forms of prayer, characteristic of the Judeo-Christian tradition: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, and Reception. The aim of this article was to examine psychometric properties and clinical applications of the Polish MPI. In four studies, we established the internal structure of the MPI using Principal Component Analysis (PCA, study 1) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA, study 2), examined its validity and reliability in relation to religiousness (study 3), and analysed its clinical application (study 4). The Polish MPI has been confirmed as a reliable and valid measure of five types of prayer for use in research settings.

Vaccine hesitancy in East Malaysia (Sabah): A survey of the national COVID-19 immunisation programme

The Malaysian government has introduced the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) as a new mechanism to address the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Unfortunately, the number of PICK registrations is still unsatisfactory and is now even lower. The low level of participation of the Sabah (East Malaysia) population significantly impacts the PICK registrations. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors that cause vaccine hesitancy among the people of Sabah. This study seeks to identify these trends based on zone and district boundaries. A total of 1024 respondents were sampled in this study. Raw data collected through the survey method were analysed using K-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), and spatial analysis. The study discovered that factors including confidence, authority, mainstream media, complacency, social media, and convenience are the top causes of vaccine hesitancy among respondents. This study also revealed that the Sabah population’s key variables causing vaccine hesitancy to vary by region (zones and districts). The conclusion is significant as a source of supporting data for stakeholders seeking to identify the Sabah population’s constraints in each region and therefore, it would help improve PICK management’s performance in Sabah.

Study of anaesthetical activity of alkoxyphenylcarbamic acid esters using statistical methods

Anaesthetical activity of 113 morpholinoethyl-, piperidinoethyl-, piperidinopropyl- and azepanoethyl- ester derivatives of alkoxyphenylcarbamic acid was characterized by several chemometrical techniques. The surface anaesthetical activity, A, and the infiltration anaesthetical activity, B, were correlated to lipophilicity, (expressed by the logarithm of the HPLC retention factor, log k), the length of the side alkoxy chain (represented by the number n of carbon atoms), molar mass M as well as the ester type. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used for predicting both types of the anaesthetic activity of the alkoxyphenylcarbamic acid esters.