Comparison Of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Dass) Scores Among University Students In Cyberjaya: An Online Survey

Abstract

There is a growing concern of mental health of university students worldwide. Studies have shown that students’ performance in university may be influenced by the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. These could lead to difficulties in concentrating, lack of motivation and interest and poor physical health. This study aims to determine the frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among the university students in Cyberjaya. It also aims to compare DASS score between health science and non-health science students as well as between medical and pharmacy students using Mann-Whitney test. Correlation between the DASS score and the cumulative grade point average (CGPA) among the students is measured using Spearman correlation. Overall, there were 263 out of 412 (63.8%) students responded to the online survey. Students who participated in the study were mostly health science students from University of Cyberjaya (UOC) (67.0%, 176/263) with mean age of 22.4 (±2.7) years old. This study found that majority of the students were normal based on DASS score. Of those reported above normal score, most of the respondents had anxiety (33.1%, 87/263), followed by depression (19.4%, 51/273) and stress (4.9%, 13/263). Non-health science students reported higher frequency of depression (29.9% vs 14.2%), anxiety (40.2% vs 29.6%) and stress (6.9% vs 4.0%) compared to health science students. However, “severe” depression, “extremely severe” anxiety and “moderate” stress only found in health science students. This study also found that pharmacy students had higher frequency of depression (19.2% vs 10.2%), anxiety (42.5% vs 20.4%) and stress (5.5% vs 3.1%) compared to medical students. This study found that DASS score of students are negatively correlated with their CGPA. Majority of the students were aware of the counselling resources in their university. The main source of support for students comes from their family with highest mean score of 3.2 (±0.8). In conclusion, only minority of students in Cyberjaya had depression, anxiety and stress. These problems need to be eliminated during their study years. Future similar online surveys on bigger number of students in Malaysia are required to confirm and to provide better curriculum for the students.