Stress, Anxiety And Depression Status Of Malaysian Public In Relation To The Covid-19 Pandemic And Movement Control Order

Mental health conditions (MHC) have been found to have a negative effect on the outcome of respiratory diseases. MHC may increase readmissions and prolonged hospital stay for non-psychiatric hospitalisations. The study aimed to look at the depression, anxiety, and stress (DAS) levels of the Malaysian public in response to the pandemic and movement control order (MCO), using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) questionnaire at different MCO stages. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a non-probability and snowballing sampling method involving 317 respondents above 18 years of age in Malaysia. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyse the data to identify the DAS levels during the early phase
MCO compared to the recovery phase MCO. Results demonstrate the stress level to be higher during the early phase in comparison to the recovery phase; however, for anxiety and depression, these levels are identical in both phases. Additionally, ttest results exhibit similar findings, where significant differences (at 5%) are found for stress levels between the early and recovery phases. Meanwhile, for anxiety levels, a significant difference is only found at the 10% level of significance. Interestingly, for depression, no significant difference is found between the two phases. The decrease in stress levels can be explained by the adaptation of the public response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, to a certain extent, anxiety was still present and postulated due to apprehension and uncertainties about the COVID-19 pandemic progression with time. Future
research should further assess the public response toward the latest COVID-19 pandemic dynamics, and reasons for the anxiety component can be established.