Psychosocial Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Malaysian Families: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective To investigate the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on Malaysian families. Design A cross-sectional study performed using an anonymous online questionnaire distributed through social media, email and the Department of Social Welfare. Setting Malaysian families were invited to answer the questionnaires. The sampling was performed between 12 May 2020 and 9 June 2020. Intervention The psychological impact was assessed using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES). The mental health status was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) 21. Main outcome measure (1) Psychological impact on Malaysian families. (2) Prevalence of mental health status of Malaysian families during COVID-19 pandemic. Result A total of 409 Malaysian families have responded (409 parents and 348 children), 154 respondents (38%) reported high psychological impact (score 14) for psychological construct and 189 respondents (46%) reported high psychological impact (score 6) for behavioural construct. A significantly higher proportion of respondents with not permanent employment status of the family lead reported high psychological impact. The prevalence of anxiety reported from family respondents was 23%. Forty-five children answered the DASS-21 questionnaire; 28.5% reported anxiety, 31.4% reported depression and 13.3% reported stress. The job security status of the family lead was found to be the predictive factor for the mean total IES-R score (psychological construct) and ethnicity for mean total CRIES-8 and CRIES-13. Conclusion Rates of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic were high. Findings suggest that urgent measures to ensure job security among Malaysian families are important to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial and mental health outcomes.