IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i8p4590-d791196.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Psychological Distress and COVID-19 Related Anxiety among Malaysian Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Nurul Ilani Abdul Latif

    (Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Nor Azlin Mohamed Ismail

    (Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Sweet Yi Esther Loh

    (Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Abdul Ghani Nur Azurah

    (Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Marhani Midin

    (Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Shamsul Azhar Shah

    (Community Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Aida Kalok

    (Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

Abstract

The combination of COVID-19 outbreaks and nationwide lockdown led to an increased prevalence of psychological distress among the population, especially women, as they have to cope with greater family and work demands. We aimed to identify the factors contributing to psychological distress among Malaysian women during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2020 and April 2021, in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among women, which consisted of (1) Participant’s demographics, (2) COVID-19 knowledge and awareness, (3) Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and (4) COVID-19-related anxiety. Chi-square test and univariate analysis were performed to determine the significant factors associated with psychological distress. The mean scores for knowledge, COVID-19 anxiety, and DASS-21 subcomponents were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test. A total of three hundred and thirty-eight women completed the survey. The majority of respondents demonstrated adequate knowledge (95.6%) on COVID-19. The proportion of our women who reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress were 17.2%, 25.1%, and 0.9%, respectively, resulting in a prevalence of psychological distress of 27.8%. Low education level ( p = 0.017), unemployment ( p = 0.028), loss of income ( p = 0.033), and hospital admission for surgical procedures ( p = 0.021) were significantly associated with a higher psychological burden. A greater level of COVID-19 anxiety was found among Malays ( p = 0.027), pregnant women ( p = 0.013), and those who suffered a loss of income ( p = 0.038) during this pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on women’s psychological wellbeing, especially those from the lower socio-economic background. Therefore, adequate information, as well as support, must be provided to the vulnerable groups during the ongoing pandemic, to lessen their psychological burden.

Suggested Citation

  • Nurul Ilani Abdul Latif & Nor Azlin Mohamed Ismail & Sweet Yi Esther Loh & Abdul Ghani Nur Azurah & Marhani Midin & Shamsul Azhar Shah & Aida Kalok, 2022. "Psychological Distress and COVID-19 Related Anxiety among Malaysian Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4590-:d:791196
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4590/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4590/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cuiyan Wang & Riyu Pan & Xiaoyang Wan & Yilin Tan & Linkang Xu & Cyrus S. Ho & Roger C. Ho, 2020. "Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Li Ping Wong & Haridah Alias & Afiqah Alyaa Md Fuzi & Intan Sofia Omar & Azmawaty Mohamad Nor & Maw Pin Tan & Diana Lea Baranovich & Che Zarrina Saari & Sareena Hanim Hamzah & Ku Wing Cheong & Chiew H, 2021. "Escalating progression of mental health disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a nationwide survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Carlos Ruiz-Frutos & Mónica Ortega-Moreno & Adriano Dias & João Marcos Bernardes & Juan Jesús García-Iglesias & Juan Gómez-Salgado, 2020. "Information on COVID-19 and Psychological Distress in a Sample of Non-Health Workers during the Pandemic Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Cristina Mazza & Eleonora Ricci & Silvia Biondi & Marco Colasanti & Stefano Ferracuti & Christian Napoli & Paolo Roma, 2020. "A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Italian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-14, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karolina Hoffmann & Dorota Kopciuch & Aleksandra Bońka & Michał Michalak & Wiesław Bryl & Krzysztof Kus & Elżbieta Nowakowska & Tomasz Zaprutko & Piotr Ratajczak & Anna Paczkowska, 2023. "The Mental Health of Poles during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Nur Iwana Abdul Taib & Nik Ruzyanei Nik Jaafar & Nazirah Azman & Mohammad Farris Iman Leong Bin Abdullah & Nurul Ain Mohamad Kamal & Azlin Baharudin & Muhammad Najib Bin Abdullah & Suresh Kumar Chidam, 2023. "Stigma, Sociodemographic Factors, and Clinical Factors Associated with Psychological Distress among COVID-19 Survivors during the Convalescence Period: A Multi-Centre Study in Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Jasmine Adela Mutang & Bee Seok Chua & Kai Yee Hon & Ching Sin Siau & Walton Wider & Rosnah Ismail, 2022. "Stressors, Psychological States, and Relationship Quality among East Malaysian Adults with Partners Amid the COVID-19 Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-10, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. Pierre Zila-Velasque & Pamela Grados-Espinoza & Naomi Coba-Villan & Jocelyn Quispe-Chamorro & Yesenia F. Taipe-Guillén & Estefany Pacheco & Laura Ccasa-Valero & Virgilio E. Failoc-Rojas & Cristian , 2022. "Mental Disorders and Level of Resilience in Eight High-Altitude Cities of Peru during the Second Pandemic Wave: A Multicenter Population-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Paula Rodríguez-Fernández & Josefa González-Santos & Mirian Santamaría-Peláez & Raúl Soto-Cámara & Esteban Sánchez-González & Jerónimo J. González-Bernal, 2021. "Psychological Effects of Home Confinement and Social Distancing Derived from COVID-19 in the General Population—A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Ankica Kosic & Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović & Nebojša Petrović, 2021. "A Cross-Cultural Study of Distress during COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Protective and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    4. Stefania Scuri & Marina Tesauro & Fabio Petrelli & Ninfa Argento & Genny Damasco & Giovanni Cangelosi & Cuc Thi Thu Nguyen & Demetris Savva & Iolanda Grappasonni, 2022. "Use of an Online Platform to Evaluate the Impact of Social Distancing Measures on Psycho-Physical Well-Being in the COVID-19 Era," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-10, June.
    5. Lucía del Río-Casanova & Milagrosa Sánchez-Martín & Ana García-Dantas & Anabel González-Vázquez & Ania Justo, 2021. "Psychological Responses According to Gender during the Early Stage of COVID-19 in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    7. José Pais-Ribeiro & Alexandra Ferreira-Valente & Margarida Jarego & Elisabet Sánchez-Rodríguez & Jordi Miró, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal: Psychosocial and Health-Related Factors Associated with Psychological Discomfort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-13, March.
    8. Juan Gómez-Salgado & Montserrat Andrés-Villas & Sara Domínguez-Salas & Diego Díaz-Milanés & Carlos Ruiz-Frutos, 2020. "Related Health Factors of Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Daniela Marchetti & Roberta Maiella & Rocco Palumbo & Melissa D’Ettorre & Irene Ceccato & Marco Colasanti & Adolfo Di Crosta & Pasquale La Malva & Emanuela Bartolini & Daniela Biasone & Nicola Mammare, 2023. "Self-Reported Mental Health and Psychosocial Correlates during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Data from the General Population in Italy," Data, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-7, June.
    10. Mohammad Farhan Al. Qudah & Ismael Salamah Albursan & Heba Ibraheem Hammad & Ahmad Mohammad Alzoubi & Salaheldin Farah Bakhiet & Abdullah M. Almanie & Soltan S. Alenizi & Suliman S. Aljomaa & Mohammed, 2021. "Anxiety about COVID-19 Infection, and Its Relation to Smartphone Addiction and Demographic Variables in Middle Eastern Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, October.
    11. Eriona Thartori & Concetta Pastorelli & Flavia Cirimele & Chiara Remondi & Maria Gerbino & Emanuele Basili & Ainzara Favini & Carolina Lunetti & Irene Fiasconaro & Gian Vittorio Caprara, 2021. "Exploring the Protective Function of Positivity and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy in Time of Pandemic COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Fang-Yi Tsai & Hannah Schillok & Michaela Coenen & Christina Merkel & Caroline Jung-Sievers & on behalf of the COSMO Study Group, 2022. "The Well-Being of the German Adult Population Measured with the WHO-5 over Different Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis within the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring Study (COSMO)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-27, March.
    13. Anna Maria Cybulska & Katarzyna Głębicka & Marzanna Stanisławska & Aneta Cymbaluk-Płoska & Elżbieta Grochans & Kamila Rachubińska, 2023. "The Relationship between Social Support and Mental Health Problems of Peri- and Postmenopausal Women during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-14, January.
    14. Manuel Maciel-Saldierna & Emmanuel Elizondo-Hernández & Gabino Cervantes-Guevara & Enrique Cervantes-Pérez & Guillermo Alonso Cervantes-Cardona & Bertha Georgina Guzmán-Ramírez & Irma Valeria Brancacc, 2022. "Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Junior High School Students in Guadalajara, Mexico: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-10, November.
    15. Agnes Y. K. Lai & George O. C. Cheung & Asa C. M. Choi & Man-Ping Wang & Polly S. L. Chan & Angie H. Y. Lam & Esther W. S. Lo & Chia-Chin Lin & Tai-Hing Lam, 2022. "Mental Health, Support System, and Perceived Usefulness of Support in University Students in Hong Kong Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, October.
    16. Maria Rosaria Gualano & Giuseppina Lo Moro & Gianluca Voglino & Fabrizio Bert & Roberta Siliquini, 2020. "Effects of Covid-19 Lockdown on Mental Health and Sleep Disturbances in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-13, July.
    17. Yiyi Chen & Ye Liu, 2021. "Which Risk Factors Matter More for Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Application Approach of Gradient Boosting Decision Trees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Kata Morvay-Sey & Melinda Trpkovici & Pongrác Ács & Dávid Paár & Ágnes Pálvölgyi, 2022. "Psychological Responses of Hungarian Students during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-17, September.
    19. Yongdong Shi & Rongsheng Huang & Hanwen Cui, 2021. "Prediction and Analysis of Tourist Management Strategy Based on the SEIR Model during the COVID-19 Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-12, October.
    20. Maheen M. Adamson & Angela Phillips & Srija Seenivasan & Julian Martinez & Harlene Grewal & Xiaojian Kang & John Coetzee & Ines Luttenbacher & Ashley Jester & Odette A. Harris & David Spiegel, 2020. "International Prevalence and Correlates of Psychological Stress during the Global COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-16, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; psychology; women;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4590-:d:791196. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.