Coping Strategies with COVID-19 and Prolonged Movement Control Order (MCO) among Malaysian University Students

Abstract

Nearly two years have passed since the COVID-19 epidemic significantly impacted the world. Due to a protracted movement control order (MCO), many people face challenges that can be stressful, unpleasant, and sad. This study investigates university students' psychological distress and coping strategies during Malaysia's COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged MCO. One hundred seven university students collected data between June 18 and July 23, 2021. Qualified respondents were requested to complete a survey that questioned questions about their demographics, their level of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as their coping mechanisms. Furthermore, The COVID-19 and Coping Strategies is a semi-structured questionnaire consisting of four coping strategies: seeking social support, acceptance, mental disengagement, and humanitarian. The results showed the diverse ways students have chosen to cope with the challenges posed by the pandemic and MCO, with acceptance and mental disengagement strategies appearing as notable preferences and social support and humanitarian efforts also playing significant roles. From the findings, respondents tended to use maladaptive coping strategies (acceptance and mental disengagement) more frequently than adaptive coping strategies (seeking social support and humanitarian coping).