Psychological and Physical Impact on Students of Management and Science University (Malaysia) during the Movement Control Order Covid-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

Background: The 2019 Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) epidemic was a health emergency of international concern. Movement Control Order (MCO) that was implemented in Malaysia to cope with Covid-19 spreading, had caused unbearable physical and psychological pressure and affected the educational status of the students. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study the impact of MCO during the Covid-19 on the university students physically, psychologically and academically. Methodology: This research was implemented as a cross sectional study among university students. The online survey collected information regarding the students’ demographic characteristics, physical symptoms on the past 2 months, psychological impact (through the Impact of Event Scale-Revised “IES-R”). The results showed students to have mild, moderate and severe psychological impact (11.34%, 5.67% and 32.47% respectively). Linear regression showed there was no correlation between demographic characteristics and psychological impacts of MCO. Majority of the students (46.4%) rated their general health as good while 38.1% often keep an eye of their health. 25.8% of the students had seen medical practitioner for the past two months and 25% out of them had seen the doctor for 1-2 times. Conclusion: These findings could help in developing evidence-driven strategies to reduce the adverse impact of MCO on university students during pandemics.