RESEARCH ARTICLE: The effect of stress and depression on quality of life of pharmacy students in Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46542/pe.2021.211.323333Keywords:
Depression, Malaysia, Pharmacy student, Stress, Quality of lifeAbstract
Objective: This study aims to determine the prevalence of stress and depression among pharmacy students, evaluate their health related quality of life (HRQoL) in Malaysia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted among pharmacy students at eight universities from March to May 2020 across Malaysia. Instruments adopted in the survey included perceived stress scale 4 (PSS-4) for stress, patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression and WHOQOL-BREF for health-related quality of life.
Results: A total of 441 students participated in the study. The overall PSS-4 score mean was 7.30 and the differences in PHQ-9 scores mean between public and private universities were not significant. A positive correlation was observed between total PSS-4 scores and PHQ-9 scores. Only 24.5% of pharmacy students reported a good quality of life, with a median score of 96.00. A Significant negative correlation was found between stress and depression against the quality of life.
Conclusions: Stress and depression play a significant role in deteriorating the quality of life of pharmacy students. This highlighted the importance of future research in developing useful interventions to improve the quality of life of university students, especially students from the medical and health science fields.
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