ABSTRACT
Introduction: Undergraduate students are at a high risk for food insecurity and knowledge on relevant coping strategies is the key issue in dealing with food insecurity. Therefore, this study is aimed at determining the food insecurity status, coping strategies, and the factors associated with food insecurity and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 383 undergraduate students from health-related courses at the International Islamic University Malaysia Kuantan campus. The participants were selected by convenience sampling. The instrument used for data collection was a self-administered questionnaire consisting of three parts: socio-demographic background, food insecurity, and coping strategies. The data were analysed as descriptive and inferential analyses, such as Chi-Square, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis. Results: It was found that 21.41% of the participants reported experiencing food insecurity. There were significant associations between parents' income (p<0.001), financial status (p<0.001), academic performance (p = 0.04) and working part-time (p = 0.01) with food insecurity. It was also discovered that there were significant associations between working part-time (p<0.001), faculty of study (p<0.001), academic year (p<0.001), financial status (p<0.001), academic cumulative grade point average (CGPA) (p<0.001) and monthly expenses (p = 0.01) with Malaysian Coping Strategies Instruments (MCSI) score. A significant association between food insecurity and MCSI score (p<0.001) was also found in this study. Conclusion: The prevalence of food insecurity was consistent with previous studies, which is considered high in Malaysia. The findings could assist university authorities to identify the characteristics of the students that are related to food insecurity. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
AIM: Since there were pros and cons, and insufficient knowledge among Indonesian regarding the vaccines, this research aims to investigate the knowledge regarding COVID-19 vaccination among employees who work in an Islamic University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to investigate the people’s knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination. The survey was conducted before the first vaccination of COVID-19 in March 2021. A descriptive analysis method was performed. Seven hundred sixty-two respondents completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: Respondent’s average age was 34.61 years old (standard deviation = 11.821, range 20–64), 54.1% of female and 45.9% of male. 448 (58.8%) respondents did not have any comorbid history. Respondents mostly obtained vaccination information through social media (86.25%). Most respondents had sufficient knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccine (83.2%), particularly those aged 20–29. For side effects, 585 (76.8%) respondents answered that they experienced pain in the injection area after getting the COVID-19 vaccination. This study showed that the respondents aged 20–29 years old had sufficient knowledge regarding COVID-19 vaccination. CONCLUSION: As knowledge plays an essential role in accepting vaccinations, health-care workers’ efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccination should be directed toward the middle-aged and elderly population to support the government’s plan to increase the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in Indonesia.