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Strategies of the Association to Achieve its Goals
1. To increase public awareness and acceptance of psoriasis
The Association organises periodic public forums about psoriasis by prominent local and international speakers. We also try to maintain a profile in the local media (newspapers, TV documentaries eg. Majalah 3). One of the most important message we want to get through is that psoriasis is not contagious. One cannot catch psoriasis by having physical contact with a sufferer. We would like better public acceptance of psoriasis just like it accepts persons with diabetes, high blood pressure without any stigma and bias.
2. To provide Continuing Medical Education for persons with psoriasis
Besides the public forums and media publicity, members of the Association receive news of events and advances through regular newsletters. We have had a few weekend retreats in Port Dickson and Awana Genting resorts which provide a relaxing environment for persons with psoriasis and spouses to enjoy more detailed lectures about various aspects of the management of psoriasis. Notably, we have had very good feedback about meetings with guest clinical psychologists to teach members about stress reduction techniques and the benefits of group counselling sessions.
We place strong emphasis on educating the psoriasis sufferer on all aspects of his condition as better knowledge of the nature, aggravating factors and treatment options will help the sufferer to prevent relapses and better co-operate with treatment. A recent study was done which compared the knowledge of psoriasis between PA members and non-PA members. The results of the study showed that members of the PA had significantly higher Knowledge Scores than non-PA members (74.5% vs 60%) on all important aspects of psoriasis.(see Appendix below) As psoriasis is a chronic, life-long condition, better patient education such as achieved with PA members should help to improve the quality of life of persons with psoriasis and alleviate stress which has a negative impact on psoriasis.
3. To provide a support group for patients and relatives
The Association also has regular social get-togethers which help members to share and encourage each other - to know that they are not alone and that a sympathetic ear is always available. The value of such support is often underestimated but it has been shown that support groups such as the PA do decrease the social isolation felt by sufferers.
At the moment the benefits of PA membership is only enjoyed by English-speaking patients. The Association would like to make available the benefits of membership to persons with psoriasis who are non-English-speaking (i.e. Bahasa, Chinese, and Tamil patients). The Association is also keen to expand its membership to more persons with psoriasis in Malaysia as our present active membership is only 300.