BACHELOR OF QUANTITY SURVEYING (HONS)

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, AND SURVEYING

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR

EWC661

ENGLISH FOR REPORT WRITING

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENT’S MENTAL HEALTH DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC

PREPARED BY:

SYAZA SYAZLIN BINTI JAMHURI 2020844468

NUR RABIHA BINTI AMRAN 2020455448
NURAISYAH BINTI JOHARI 2020476962
NUR FADHLIN HANA BINTI MOHD HAZRUL 2020477062
MARYAN BINTI AGUS SALIM 2020847342

GROUP: AP2243A

PREPARED FOR: PN. SIVAJOTHY A/P SELVANAYAGA

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 22nd DECEMBER 2021

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to convey our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped us complete
this report. Our lecturer, Ms. Sivajothy A/P Selvanayaga, deserves special thanks for her
engaging suggestions and encouragement, which helped us to successfully organize this
assignment, especially in producing this report.

We would also want to express our gratitude to all responders for their time and effort
in answering the survey. Finally, we would want to express my gratitude to our family for
their moral support throughout the writing of this report. We were able to complete this report
on time because of these commitments. Thank you.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 2

1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 5

1.1 Background of the study .............................................................................................. 5

1.2 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................... 6

1.3 Objectives of the Study ................................................................................................ 8

1.4 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................. 8

1.5 Limitation of the Study ................................................................................................. 8

1.6 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 9

2. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 11

2.1 Respondents of the Study ......................................................................................... 11

2.2 Instrument of the Study .............................................................................................. 11

2.3 Data Collection Procedure ......................................................................................... 11

2.4 Data Analysis Method ................................................................................................ 12

3. FINDINGS.................................................................................................................... 13

3.1 Background of Respondents...................................................................................... 13

3.2 Types of Mental Health Issues ................................................................................... 13

3.3 The Reasons That Affected UiTM undergraduates’ Mental Health ............................ 15

3.4 The Way on How UiTM Undergraduates Cope with Mental Health’s Issues .............. 17

4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................. 19

4.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 19

4.2 Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 19

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 21

3
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Mental Health Issue Experienced by UiTM Undergraduates during the COVID-19
Pandemic ............................................................................................................................ 13
Figure 2: UiTM Undergraduates' First Experience with Mental Health Issues ..................... 14
Figure 3: The Most Important Factor Affected UiTM Undergraduates’ Mental Health the Most
During COVID-19 Pandemic ............................................................................................... 15
Figure 4: The Covid-19 Pandemic’s Impact on the Quality of Sleep .................................... 16
Figure 5: Ways on How to Cope with Daily Problems.......................................................... 17
Figure 6: Effectiveness of the Ways to Cope with Mental Health Issues ............................. 18

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 EWC661: PROPOSAL

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STUDENT’S MENTAL HEALTH DURING COVID-19

PANDEMIC AMONG UiTM UNDERGRADUATES

1. INTRODUCTION

This section consists of background of the study, problem statement, objectives,

significance, and limitation of the study. Each of the sub-topics will explain in detail about
this research.

1.1 Background of the study

“Mental health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own
abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to
make a contribution to his or her community” (World Health Organization, 2018, para. 2).
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2021), mental health can
also be defined as an essential component of total health and happiness. Human
emotions, psychological, and social well-being are all part of mental health. It has an
impact on the way one thinks, feels, and acts. It also influences how one deal with stress,
interact with people and make good decisions. Mental health is vital at all stages of life,
including childhood, adolescence, and maturity. Nowadays, Covid-19 Pandemic has
caused an uprising on mental health problems in almost all countries in the world. A
study has been conducted to provide the statistics of mental health issues from 32
different countries which contain the information from January 1, 2020, to July 11, 2020.
The study result shows that there is indeed a serious mental health problem worldwide
including 50.0% for psychological distress, 36.5% for stress, 28.0% for depression,
27.6% for sleep problems, 26.9% for anxiety, and 24.1% for post-traumatic stress
symptoms (Surapon, et al., 2021).

In Malaysia, the problem of mental health has also been a concern as the issues
have risen greatly over the years. In 1996, 10.6% of adult Malaysians aged between
16 to 65 years old have been affected by mental health issues and in 2015 the
percentage has increased to 29.2%. This result shows that three in every ten adults
are estimated to have experienced mental health problems (Marhani, et al., 2018).
Umair Jamal (2021) has stated that mental health difficulties are becoming more
prevalent as the COVID-19 pandemic started and continues to spread across
Malaysia. Social isolation, economic uncertainty, and the death of loved ones, as in
most of the world, have become key drivers of anxiety, despair, stress, and other

5
issues. The number of people that have been seeking aid concerning the stress
caused by the pandemic has increased more than twofold. The seriousness of
mental health conditions among Malaysians that emerges since the beginning of the
pandemic can also be seen from the information given by Malaysia’s health ministry,
Psychological First Aid hotline has received roughly 43,000 calls from March 28,
2020, until December 1, 2020.

During this pandemic, some university students may suffer from stress and other
mental health issues. They need to stay at home and attend online classes. Other
than that, they also need to do assignments, examinations, and presentations
virtually and this can cause stress to the students because they need to stay in front
of the screen for a longer time. Based on previous research, it says that longer media
exposure has been linked to higher anxiety and depression levels (Abdullah S, 2021).
There are so many factors that can lead students to suffer from mental health. One of
the factors is a restriction to communicate with friends and lecturers. There are so
many types of mental health that students could experience during this pandemic.
Therefore, we should investigate the types of mental health that students suffer the
most. Other than that, some of the issues such as family issues, social life, or online
distance learning (ODL) might also affect UiTM undergraduates mentally during the
pandemic. Last but not least, researchers also want to identify how undergraduates
cope with these issues in the current situation.

1.2 Problem Statement

COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus the mental health issues of various
affected populations, including university students. This coronavirus disease has
impacted the physical and mental well-being of university students worldwide especially
teenagers or well-known students because they had to cope with online learning which
changes their study lifestyles (Wang, et al., 2021). Numerous studies such as a poll that
have been done by The Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 47% of college students
reported negative mental health effects resulting from too many stresses since the virus
outbreaks (Son, et. al, 2020). Next, the study result shows that COVID-19 have increased
difficulty in concentrating on academic work due to the various sources of distraction
which is 89% of students that participated in the study stated the same thing which is that
online classes were the main subject to the mental health due to the lack of interactions
and more attention on the computer screen (Son, et. al, 2020). This have shown that the
number of students participating in online learning is increasing, and thus the rate of
suicide among students is a troubling reality

6
of mental instability caused by this new situation. The most of reported student suicides
were connected to being unable to attend class online. Thus, mental health is crucial at
all stages of life because our mental health affects how we deal with stress, interact with
others, and make a decision (Centers for Disease Control & Preventions, 2021).

Next, this Covid-19 pandemic rapidly grows across the world, it is automatically
created a considerable degree of fear and worry too much among certain groups in
particular such as students that can drag them with underlying health conditions. In
addition, referring to World Health Organization in section of Mental Health and Covid
19 (2021) strictly mentioned that mental health conditions right now is a major
concern during this pandemic that will make the statistic rise drastically. Thus, this
study is aimed to determine the reasons UiTM Shah Alam students’ mental health
and the problems faced if any. However, starting this pandemic began makes us
know that Covid-19 is real when it comes to the mental health of someone whether
students, workers or everyone is having the same difficulties in this pandemic
(Hazim, 2021). The inconvenient timings, unresponsive partner, unsupportive
families, too much assessment and assignment, fear of asking questions through
online learning, the lack of communications, and also a lack of internet connection
are among the issues that make a student’s mental health become worst day by day.
Despite this, students nowadays are being under severe stress when it becomes to
suicide cases because their ability to balance their workload demands is gone when
they often force themselves to settle it down until they have no times for them to
enjoy and leads to loneliness and becomes depression (Hazim, 2021).

In response to this problem, the researchers would like to determine the mental
health issues faced by the students, which are depression, stress, and anxiety. Perhaps
a study that investigates the impact and ways to overcome this issue during the Covid-19
Pandemic by carried out an analysis that could help resolve this situation. Thus, the
problem of these mental health issues will be no longer a major problem for upcoming
students when everyone involved in this issue together helps each other to give a
positive impact on student’s mental health. The following research questions have
prompted researchers to conduct a study on the effects of student’s mental health during
this pandemic which is the emotions of the UiTM undergraduates feel or experience, to
discover the types of issues that might affect UiTM undergraduates mentally during the
Covid-19 pandemic such as family issues, need to cope with online distance learning
(ODL), their financial loss and their social life which may give them a bad impact to their
mental health. At the same time as well, the researchers also

7
tried to identify how the undergraduate students cope with these issues throughout
this Covid-19 pandemic.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The purpose of the study is to investigate students’ mental health during the
COVID-19 Pandemic among UiTM undergraduates of different courses in UiTM Shah
Alam. This study gives several research objectives to be achieved as follows:

a) To investigate the types of mental health issues UiTM undergraduates

experience during the pandemic.
b) To determine the reasons that influence UiTM undergraduates’ mental health
during the Covid-19 pandemic?
c) To identify how undergraduates cope with mental health issues during the
pandemic.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The findings of the study will benefit the educators of higher learning institutions
in general in several ways. Firstly, they will get valuable information about the
emotions UITM undergraduates feel or experience during the pandemic which is
everyone can understand their feelings or experience that have been through during
the pandemic. The studies provide benefits to university students with the issues that
affect mentally during the Covid-19 pandemic to overcome their mental health issues.
Then, the findings will also provide university students with relevant information in
terms of students’ coping strategies to overcome their mental health.

1.5 Limitation of the Study

Several limitations need to be considered based on the results of this study. In

addition, our country had been hit by a continuous pandemic of COVID-19, the resources
obtained are very limited and the time constraints caused this study only in 14 weeks due
to MCO, because of this situation the data obtained was through Google form only. Other
than that, there was no interviews were conducted during this study. Therefore, our
results may be generalized to UiTM Selangor students only. Although, the entire
university was involved in online learning. This causes the data obtained have be less
accurate as not all answers given were based on a limited scope. Data based on self-
report covered only limited knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. In addition, self-reported
levels of mental health by students, stress was not confirmed

8
by mental health professional assessments. Lastly, the study sample size was too
small and thus, the results could not be generalized to all UiTM students.

1.6 Literature Review

Several kinds of research have been conducted about mental health issues
among students. Therefore, a study on “Suicidal Behaviours and Mental Health
Disorders among Students Commencing College” shows that adulthood and
university life adjustment could be difficult for students (Caoimhe, et al, 2021). This
could affect students negatively and can cause stress, anxiety also depression if they
could not manage their lifestyles. The results from the research show that 35% of
students that take full-time studying suffered from mental health issues (Caoimhe, et
al, 2021). There are a few factors that cause the students to suffer from mental
health and some of them are academic pressure and socio-economic. Moreover, the
impact of COVID-19 nowadays gives worries to all people around the world.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all face-to-face learning has changed into online
learning to avoid the virus from spreading. A study titled “Mental Health Impact of
Online Learning: A Look into University Students in Brunei Darussalam” shows that
COVID-19 has changed their lifestyles where some of the students suffered insomnia
(Alam M., 2022). This happened when students are exposed to screen time for more
than 3 hours because of the online classes. Dry eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome, and
backaches are early signs of physical health, leading to mental health problems
(Alam M., 2022). Therefore, those who already have suffered from mental health
before will likely get worse because of the general public health crisis, social isolation,
and economic slump during the pandemic (Terada, 2020).

There is another study says that changes in daily routine, such as a lack of outdoor
activity, altered sleeping patterns, and social isolation, have impacted students' mental
health (Chaturvedi, et al, 2021). Therefore, there are a lot of activities that students can
do to release their stress. For example, they can listen to music, sleep, play social media,
cooking, etc. at home during the pandemic. The finding in a study “COVID-19 and its
Impact on Education, Social Life and Mental Health of Students: A survey” shows that a
considerable percentage of people of various ages used social media as a stress reliever
(Chaturvedi, et al, 2021). Moreover, the study also said that students’ mental health was
greatly influenced by limited class engagement and inefficient timetable (Chaturvedi, et
al, 2021).

9
 According to a study done among students at private institutions, 24% of
participants had both anxiety and depression, while 60% of students reported periods
of anxiety, sadness, and panic, and 12% of students suffered episodes of anxiety,
despair, and panic (Saha, et al, 2021). It is because the students need to cope with
the workload, exam, pressure, and responsibility to get good results. Some of them
also might suffer mental health problems because of the poor internet connectivity,
inappropriate study environment, and family issues (Saha, et al, 2021). Other than
that, economic factors, loneliness, depression, and anxiety are common factors that
students might have tendencies to have suicidal thoughts from the observation during
the pandemic (Saha, et al, 2021). Therefore, students are encouraged to release
their stress by doing any activities that can be done at home during this COVID-19
pandemic to avoid prolonged stress.

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2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 Respondents of the Study

There were 65 respondents of this study consisting of male and female students,
ranging between 18 years old and above. The respondents were UiTM Shah Alam
undergraduate students. They can be the students who are in semester 1 until
semester 6.

2.2 Instrument of the Study

A questionnaire was chosen to be the research instrument for collecting the

information from the respondents. This method was more effective rather than
interviewing them face-to-face. This questionnaire was given to students in UiTM
Selangor.

There were four sections in the questionnaire regarding the requirements for
achieving the objectives of this study. Section 1 was about the background of the
respondents. In Section 2, five questions were set to find out the kind of mental
health issues, the impact of mental health on student performances during the
COVID-19 pandemic. In Section 3, there were only four questions asking about the
factor that leads to mental health issues and their impact on students. Lastly, Section
4 was designed to find out the ways to overcome mental health issues during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire consists of multiple-choice questions, rating
questions, and open-ended questions.

2.3 Data Collection Procedure

In this study, we conducted an online questionnaire and designed and distributed

via Google forms. Due to the rules and restrictions of social distance imposed during
the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided an online questionnaire will be the best way to
collect data.

The online self-questionnaire is designed to include several sections and forms of

questions, i.e. either-or type of question, multiple-choice questions, rating questions,
open-ended questions.

The questionnaire will be distributed in Google forms by using WhatsApp and

Telegram platforms. A total of 60 respondents will participate and enough for the

11
qualitative analysis needed to answer the research questions and to produce an
appropriate descriptive analysis. The questionnaires were open for 48 hours for
respondents to ensure that the data collected could complete this research.

2.4 Data Analysis Method

The data obtained had been analyzed from frequency count into percentages.
They were then transferred into suitable tables and charts.

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3. FINDINGS

This section consists of a background of respondents, types of mental health

issues which is stated as the first objective, the second objective indicated the reasons
influence UiTM undergraduates’ mental health and the way to cope with mental health
which is the last research objective. Each of the sub-topics will explain in detail about this
finding.

3.1 Background of Respondents

A questionnaire consisting of eighteen questions was distributed through Google

forms and a total of 64 answers was received. The demographic details were on gender,
faculty, age, current semester, and place of residence by the respondents. Among the 64
respondents, 73.4% were females and 26.6% were males, the majority (56.3%) were in
the group of 22-24 years old and currently in Semester 1 to Semester 3 with 59.4%. In
terms of field study, about 59.4% enrolled in the faculties of Architecture, Planning and
Surveying and 12.5% students from Computer and Mathematical Sciences and the
others in different faculties. A large number (81.3%) of the students in this study lived in
family homes and 12.5% were in the university hostel.

3.2 Types of Mental Health Issues

Mental Health Issue Experienced by UiTM

Undergraduates during The COVID-19 Pandemic
1.5% 1.5%

12.3%
Stress

Anxiety

23.1% Depression
61.5%
Anxious

Clinically Diagnosed
with Panic Attack

Figure 1: Mental Health Issue Experienced by UiTM Undergraduates during

the COVID-19 Pandemic

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 Figure 1 above shows the type of mental health issues experienced by the
respondents throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The result shows that 61.5 percent
of students experienced stress and 23.1 percent of students has anxiety. Meanwhile,
12.3 percent of the students indicated that they have depression and the rest of them
feel anxious and have been clinically diagnosed with a panic attack. From this, it is
evident that the most common types of mental health issues among the respondents
are stress and anxiety.

UiTM Undergraduates' First Experience with

Mental Health Issues
25
22
20 19
16
15

10 8

0
Long before the When the In the middle of the Only very recently
COVID-19 pandemic first pandemic
pandemic started

Figure 2: UiTM Undergraduates' First Experience with Mental Health Issues

Figure 2 highlighted the first experience of respondents having a mental

health issue. 19 respondents stated that they have these issues even before the
Covid-19 pandemic. As for the other respondents, the first moment they have these
issues are during the pandemic. Eight of them are at the beginning of the pandemic
while 22 of them are in the middle of the pandemic and 16 students have only
recently experienced having mental health issues. This data shows that the Covid-19
pandemic did not contribute to the mental health issues among students because the
students had these issues even long before the pandemic began.

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3.3 The Reasons That Affected UiTM undergraduates’ Mental Health

The Important Factor Affected UiTM

Undergraduates' Mental Health
3.10%

1.50% Academic Issues (Online

1.50% learning, overloaded task, etc)
Social life problems
21.50%
Financial difficulties

72.30% Family problems

All

Figure 3: The Most Important Factor Affected UiTM Undergraduates’ Mental

Health the Most During COVID-19 Pandemic

Figure 3 above shows the most important factor affected by the respondents
during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The result reveals that 72.3 percent of students are
affected by academic issues such as online learning and overloaded task and factor
of social life problems indicated 21.5 percent among UiTM Undergraduates are
having social problems. Furthermore, 3.1 percent of all respondents stated that they
are having a family problem during the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, only 1.5
percent for the financial difficulties and also 1.5 percent reveal that they are having all
the factors above that affected their mental health during the virus outbreak. This pie
chart demonstrates that the majority of the UiTM Undergraduates are having the
same factor that affected their mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic followed
by academic issues as the highest factor and social life problems as the second
highest factor that leads to mental health.

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 The Quality of Sleep During the Covid-19 Pandemic
6.20% 1.50% 1.50% Sleep soundly at night

10.80% Sleep late due to

chatting/texting via electronic
gadgets
Sleep a few hours due to
playing computer games
32.30% Unable to fall asleep due to
41.50% academic-related worries
Problems falling asleep due
6.20% to family/financial issues
Sleep late due to assignment
that overload
Others: Insomnia

Figure 4: The Covid-19 Pandemic’s Impact on the Quality of Sleep

Based on the pie chart above, figure 4 shows that 41.5 percent of the
respondents indicated they are unable to fall asleep due to academic-related worries
and 32.3 percent are having a late sleep due to chatting or texting via electronic
gadgets that make their quality of sleep worst. Meanwhile, 10.8 percent of students
show they are sleep soundly at night, 6.2 percent respondents stated that their
problems falling asleep are bad as they are having family or financial issues, and also
6.2 percent of students was identified sleep a few hours at night due to playing
computer games. The remaining 1.5 percent of respondent only slept at late hours
due to assignments that overload and another 1.5 percent stated that they are having
all the impacts that make their quality of sleep turn out to be insomnia. This finding,
however, came as surprise because the student should get enough sleep to avoid
mental health effects and stay focused without thinking so much about their problems
especially their academic-related worries.

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3.4 The Way on How UiTM Undergraduates Cope with Mental Health’s Issues

Ways on How to Cope with Daily

Problems

35.4

27.7

16.9

9.2 9.3
1.5

Exercise Regularly Online Shopping

Listening to music Spending on Social Media
Surrounding Myself with Positivity Others

Figure 5: Ways on How to Cope with Daily Problems

Figure 5 above shows the ways on how our respondents cope with their daily
problems during the pandemic. As you can see on the bar graph above, the highest
percentage was 35.4% (23 respondents) which is listening to music. Meanwhile, the
lowest percentage which only required 9.3% (6 respondents) were others. From the
questionnaire that we have distributed, the respondents stated that they tried to cope
with their daily problems by watching Korean dramas or movies, cleaning the house,
keeping their distance from people, and take a walk to get some fresh air. From the
graph, you can see that listening to music could help students to get through their
daily problems.

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 Effectiveness of the Way to Cope with
Mental Health Issues

2%
17% 20%
Extremely Effective
Sometimes Effective
Rarely Effective
Not Effective at All

61%

Figure 6: Effectiveness of the Ways to Cope with Mental Health Issues

Figure 6 above explained the effectiveness of the ways to cope with mental health
issues. 40 respondents said that the way that they used to cope with mental health
issues is sometimes effective then followed by extremely effective which is said by 13
respondents. There is only 1 respondent who said ways to cope with mental health
issues is not effective at all. Therefore, ways that the students always used to cope with
their mental health issues are sometimes effective depending on the situation.

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4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Conclusion

The following conclusions can be shown based on the findings of the study:

1. This study has shown that students experienced more stress compared to
the other types of the mental health issues which is quiet common issues
that have been experienced but affected their mental health.
2. The first experienced of students that having a mental health issue
shows that they have been through in the middle of the pandemic
because their life become not normal as previous.
3. The most obvious findings that emerges from this study is academic
issues such as online learning and overload task make them cannot
catch-up the syllabus and unable to fall asleep due to the academic-
related worries.
4. Lastly, they have their own ways to cope the problems such as
listening to the music and spending time on social media. The results
of the study support the idea that it is effective sometimes to cope with
the mental health issues.

4.2 Recommendations

Mental health and wellbeing are just important as physical health in our daily
life. Positive mental health and well-being enable us to function well, have a
meaningful social connection, have positive self-esteem, and be better able to cope
with life’s ups and downs. In addition, keeping a healthy mind is also an important
part of overall health and wellbeing. Based on the conclusion above, we would like to
recommend in avoiding a mental health problem, UiTM undergraduates should
surround themselves with good people to ensure that the positive surrounding will
help them in avoiding mental health. Students with a strong family or social
connection are generally healthier than those who lack a support network. Whereby,
they can seek a plan with supportive family members and friends or make some
activities that can meet new people such as at class, golf cart, and camping to
improve their social life and give out more positivity with new people.

Other than that, to avoid students’ mental health from getting worse, students can
do some activities that they like such as listening to music, doing some exercises,

19
and watching some movies or dramas for them to release their stress. Students need
to know that too much stress can lead to getting depression and other types of
mental health issues. Therefore, rather than doing nothing and keep doing something
that can give more stress such as assignments or studying for exams, they should do
some activities or games to keep their healthy mind. In addition, students must
remember to value themselves including treating themselves with care and respect.
Avoid self-criticism and never compare their achievement to another person as it can
be stressful. Students should remember to give themselves a break to relax and rest
so that their mind and body can recuperate rather than getting it worse.

Finally, if the stress faced by students cannot be dealt with normal daily routines
as described above or if support from family and friends, positive lifestyle changes, and
emotional skills building aren't enough, students should immediately go to check up or
seek help from a mental health professional to deal with the stress problems that they
face getting worse. This could happen because if they have too much stress so that
students cannot control themselves and it will cause them to get depressed. Therefore, if
this happens among students UiTM or friends or family of students who have symptoms
of depression need to be careful so that the worse things do not happen to the student.
Hence, the key to depression recovery is to start small and ask for help. So let giving help
each other in the way suggested above and give love so that they or we who face stress
can overcome it to make sure it does not get worse.

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APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR EWC 661: AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENT’S

MENTAL HEALTH DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Hello everyone!
We are a group of students from UiTM Shah Alam currently doing surveys regarding a
student’s mental health during the COVID-19 Pandemic for our subject of EWC661 – English
for Report Writing. Please answer and complete the following questions honestly. Your
cooperation in completing this questionnaire is very much appreciated. Thank you for willing
to participate in this survey.

Section A – Background of Respondents

1. Gender
Male

Female

2. Faculty

Architecture, Planning and Surveying

Civil Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Communication & Media Studies

Others, please specify ___________

 3. Age

19 – 21 years old

22 - 24 years old

25 and above

4. What semester are you currently at?

Semester 1 – Semester 3

Semester 4 – Semester 6

Semester 7 and above

5. Place or Residence

At home with family

University hostel

Renting a room/house on my own

Others, please specify _____________

Section B – Types of Mental Health Problems

Instructions: Please tick only once (√) your answer in the box.

1. What is the most common mental health issue you experience during the
Covid-19 pandemic?
Anxiety

Stress

Depression

Clinically diagnosed with panic attack

Others, please specify __________________

2. How long have you been

Long before the Covid-19 pandemic
having this issue?

When the pandemic first started

In the middle of the pandemic

Only very recently

 3. This mental health issue affects students’ academic performance.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neutral
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly agree
disagree

4. In the current semester, how often have you had mental health issues?

All the time

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

5. From scale 1 to 5, at which point is your mental health condition during the
pandemic COVID-19?

1. Very poor
2. Poor
3. Average
4. Good
5. Very good
1 2 3 4 5

Very poor Very good

Section C – Factors That Leads to Mental Health Issues and the Impact
Instructions: Please tick (√) your answer in the box.

1. Do you think that your mental health issues are because of the
Yes virus outbreak?

No

Not sure
 2. Which is the most important factor that affected your mental health the most
during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Academic Issues (Online learning, overloaded tasks, etc)

Social life problems

Financial difficulties

Family problems

Others, please specify _________________________

Yes
3. Does the COVID-19 pandemic has
affected your daily life’s activities?

No
Not sure

4. How has the COVID-19

Sleep soundly at night
pandemic affected your
quality of sleep?

Sleep late due to chatting / texting via electronic gadgets

Sleep a few hours due to playing computer games

Unable to fall asleep due to academic – related worries

Problem falling asleep due to family / financial issues

Others, please specify: _________________________

Section D – Ways to Overcome the Mental Health’s Issues

Instructions: Please tick (√) your answer in the box.

1. Have you seen a health therapist to overcome your mental health?

 Yes No

2. How do you usually cope with your daily problems during the

Exercising regularly
Shopping online
pandemic?

Listening to music

Spending on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, etc)

Others, please specify ________________

Surrounding myself with positive

people

3. Who supports you the most in overcoming your daily struggles?

Family members

Friends

Relatives

Therapist/Counsellor

No one

4. Do you think that your ways to cope with the mental health issues is effective?

Extremely effective

Sometimes effective

Rarely effective

Not effective at all