Quality of life and its association with psychological status among work-from-home parents during the Covid 19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic COVID-19 has profoundly disrupted the social and economic activities that lead to the trend of work from home. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress and their associations with quality of life among parents who work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic in Shah Alam. Methods: A total of 384 parents were included in this cross-sectional study through convenience and snowball sampling techniques. An online survey methodology, Google Form, involving Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Screening 21 Item Questionnaire and Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire were utilized to collect the data via WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram. Descriptive analysis, binary logistic regression, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient were used to analyse the recorded data using SPSS version 26. Results: Majority of participants were 40 - 49 years old, female, Malay, married and have three numbers of children. It was found that about 58.3%, 59.1%, and 38.8% of the participants were having depressed, anxious, and stressed, respectively. However, the findings indicated lower mean scores among participants in all SF-36 domains except vitality when compared with the Malaysian norm. Marital status was associated with depression and gender was associated with anxiety. No sociodemographic variable was associated with stress. All domains of SF-36 were negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusion: Higher level of depression, anxiety, and stress reduced the quality of life. Hence, effective interventions for better psychological status and quality of life of parents during a potential subsequent pandemic is necessary.