Stress Level among Parents in Klang Valley during COVID-19 Outbreak and Its Contributing Factors

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak had affected health, physical, social, mental and economy of people around the globe. Currently, Movement Control Order (MCO), often referred to as partial lockdown, signifies a major step taken by the Government to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Thus, this study is conducted to investigate COVID-19 outbreak impact factors that contribute to higher stress level among parents in Klang Valley resulting from the MCO. This cross-sectional study was designed with the sample size of N=125 through a convenience sampling method. Parents with at least single child below 12 years old were recruited to answer an online questionnaire that consists of Coronavirus Impact Questionnaire (CIQ) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Result shows a positive correlation between impact  COVID-19 and stress level among parents in Klang Valley with Pearson Correlation of r(123)=0.56, p<0.01. The study revealed that, COVID-19 pandemic was moderately impactful to parents with 62% agreed that the situation had affected them psychologically. From the recruited population 73% of the parents reported to experience moderate to high stress level. Thus, the MCO shows a significant association between the level of stress among parents and COVID-19 pandemic.