Psychological Distress and Quality of Life among Undergraduate Students in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Puncak Alam during the COVID-19 Outbreak

ABSTRACT

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, university students are among those who are at risk of developing psychological problems. The study is therefore aimed to determine university students’ psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) and quality of life (QoL) during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted, using the 21-item depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) to assess the severity of their depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms and the SF-36 to assess their QoL. Results: In total, 59.2%, 67.0%, and 40.4% of the participants experienced mild to extremely severe depression, anxiousness, and stress, respectively. University students reported a lower mean score in all SF-36 domains compared with the non-pandemic norms of the general Malaysian population. The findings of binary logistic regression demonstrated that most socio-demographic factors, such as faculty type, number of siblings, income, and residential area, had an impact on respondents' stress levels. Meanwhile, depression was only affected by the year of study and the number of siblings, while anxiety was influenced by the year of study and the family's income. All the SF-36 domains were observed to be adversely correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress. The vitality (VT), emotional well-being (EW), and social functioning (SF) domains were strongly correlated with depression. Conclusion: The COVID-19 outbreak exacerbated university students' psychological distress and reduced their quality of life, necessitating involvement from the appropriate authorities to assist them in dealing with the problem. © 2022 UPM Press. All rights reserved.