SELF-SYSTEM AND MENTAL HEALTH STATUS AMONG MALAYSIAN YOUTH ATTENDING HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: A NATIONWIDE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY Introduction: Mental health disorders (MHDs) are a global health burden with an increasing prevalence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, depression was the commonest MHD, followed by anxiety and stress. This nationwide study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress among Malaysian students attending higher educational institutions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from June to December 2021. Institutions were selected via stratified random sampling and students via convenience sampling. A self-administered questionnaire comprising questions on socio-demographic characteristics, academic background, substance abuse, childhood abuse, religiosity and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 was used. Data were analysed using SPSS version 27; descriptive, point-biserial correlation, chi-square and multiple binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Sex and adverse childhood experiences significantly predicted all three MHDs (P<0.05). The students from public institutions (odds ratio [OR]=0.71, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.56–0.90, P=0.004) had a lower risk of depression than those from private institutions. The smokers/vapers (OR=1.43, 95% CI=1.02–2.02, P=0.041) a higher risk of depression than the non-smokers/non-vapers. The social science students (OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.01–1.65, P=0.039) had a higher risk of anxiety than the science students. The students who highly engaged in organisational religious activity (OR=0.91, 95% CI=0.84–0.98, P=0.015) had a lower risk of anxiety than their counterparts. Conclusion: Anxiety is the commonest MHD among Malaysian youth, followed by depression and stress. Childhood abuse is a crucial related factor requiring further attention. Screening, surveillance, preventive measures and comprehensive interventions for MHDs should be initiated among youth.

Introduction: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress following the COVID-19 pandemic among medical students at one of the public universities in Malaysia. Method: From August to October 2020, a web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students at a public university. DASS-21, Brief Resilience Scale and WHOQOL-Bref questionnaires were used in this study. Results: The prevalence of depression was 40.5%, anxiety 46.0% and stress 30.9%. Based on multivariate logistic regression, a higher quality of life score is associated with a lower likelihood of depression (AOR=0.583, p<0.001), anxiety (AOR=0.726, p<0.001), and stress, (AOR=0.702, p<0.001) respectively. Likewise, a higher resilience score is less likely to be associated with depression (AOR=0.880, p=0.002), anxiety (AOR=0.880, p=0.002), and stress (AOR=0.850, p<0.001). Older age (OR=0.700, p=0.020) was associated with less stress and being on campus (OR=3.436, p=0.021) was at risk of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Our results suggest that medical students with higher quality of life and resilience scores had less depression, anxiety and stress. Older age was associated with less stress, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, being on campus was at risk of stress. Various stakeholders need to keep these findings in mind and identify those who are at risk for developing depression, anxiety, and stress in order to take further action to improve their quality of life and resilience

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have been in great fear due to the high risk of contracting COVID-19 infection at any time. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of resilience on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout in primary care healthcare providers in Malaysia. Methods: This was an online cross-sectional study involving 1280 healthcare providers aged 18 years and older from 30 government primary care clinics in Malaysia. We used the COVID-19 Fear Scale, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory Scale, and the Short Brief Resilience Scale to collect data from the respondents. Smart-PLS was used to perform mediation analysis. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 36 years old and mean duration of working experience was 11 years. The majority of the respondents were female (82.4%) and Malays (82.3%). The study population consisted of nurses (47.4%), doctors (26%), medical assistants (11.9), healthcare assistant (7.1%), medical laboratory technicians (6.4%) and drivers(1.3).The results show that fear of COVID-19 positively predicts burnout. According to the results, resilience mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and all the three burnout domains, namely personal burnout (β=0.175,p<0.001), work-related burnout (β=0.175,p<0.001) and client-related burnout (β=0.172,p<0.001). Additionally, resilience reduces the impact of COVID-19 fear on the three domains of burnout. Conclusion: Our study has reported a mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout.