Mental Health Status Among UNIMAS Medical Students During the Pandemic Covid-19

• Main Authors: Foong, Zhimin, Maziah Fathiah, Mohammed, Aizuddin Zhafri, Rasid, Nurodarina, Othman, Norhida, Ramli, Shazrina, Ahmad Razali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang 2023
• Subjects: R Medicine (General); RA Public aspects of medicine; RZ Other systems of medicine
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/42742/3/Mental.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/42742/; https://jurnal.unimus.ac.id/index.php/APKKM/article/view/11736/0
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Background: Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, medical students were suffering from poor mental health, leading to depression, anxiety, and stress. Research to better understand mental health is essential because of the high prevalence of poor mental health among students during the pandemic. Objective: Therefore, the study aims to determine the mental health status of UNIMAS medical students during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this study, the predictive validity of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) for the presence of a depressive disorder and its asso-ciated coping factors were investigated among medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical stu-dents from the University Malaysia Sarawak's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The DASS-21 was administered to 411 respondents, and data were analyzed using Man-Whitney and Chi-Square tests. Results: The result showed that most medical students had normal lev-els of depression (75.7%), anxiety (74.2%), and stress (92.5%). The highest coping method used was rest and sleep (95.1%), followed by singing and listening to music (91.5%). Conclusion: Most UNIMAS medical students were in good mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. They tend to have a better-cop-ing mechanism before the stressful condition deteriorates.