The psychological impact of coronavirus on university students and its socioeconomic determinants in Malaysia

This article examines the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon university students’ anxiety level and finds the factors associated with the anxiety disorder in Malaysia. We collected data from 958 students from 16 different universities using an originally designed questionnaire. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7) was used to estimate the anxiety. We find that 12.3% students were normal, whereas 30.5% were experiencing mild, 31.1% moderate, and 26.1% severe anxiety. Surprisingly, only 37.2% of students were aware of mental health support which was provided by their universities. Moreover, it was found that gender as male (Odds Ratio (OR= 0.798, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)= 0.61 - 1.04)) and having internet access (OR = 0.44, 95% CI= 0.24 - 0.80) were alleviating factors for the anxiety. Whereas, age above than 20 years (OR= 1.30, 95% CI= 0.96 - 1.75), ethnicity Chinese (OR=1.72, 95% CI= 0.95 - 3.1), any other disease (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.44 - 2.79), decreased family income (OR=1.71, 95% CI=1.34 - 2.17), more time spent on watching COVID-19 related news (OR=1.52, 95% CI=1.17 -1.97), and infected relative or friends (OR=1.62, 95% CI=1.06 - 2.50) were risk factors for anxiety among students. We suggest that the government of Malaysia should monitor the mental health of the universities’ students more closely and universities should open online mental health support clinics to avoid the adverse impacts of the anxiety disorder

Economic benefits of homestay programme development in selected areas of Selangor, Malaysia

A Malaysian homestay programme is a very unique means to promote authentic cultural heritage experiences and a village (kampung) lifestyle. It generates additional household income by utilising existing natural resources and at the same time providing various economic benefits to the local community. Selangor is one of the prominent states for homestay development in the country, it has registered the highest number of licensed operators and income performance (MOT, 2015). Therefore it is imperative to investigate the economic benefits of the homestay programme, so as to allow quantification of the local finances, expenditure and revenue generation. The main objective of this study is to estimate the economic benefits of visitors’ spending on homestay programme in Selangor to the operators, businesses and communities in the region studied. This study used the Keynesian multiplier method to estimates the output, income and jobs creation in the overall community. The expectation-disconfirmation model was incorporated to evaluate overall visitors’ satisfaction through a comparison of product expectations towards the actual performance of the product using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A total of 206 questionnaires were distributed to residing homestay visitors, 160 respondents for homestay operators and 200 respondents were from the local community. The major findings from output and employment multipliers have shown significant economic benefits for the entire community. Firstly, the output multiplier figures show that Type I (1.57) and Type II (2.19) indicate a strong connection between magnitude of visitors spending and operators spending towards the overall income and employment benefits. There is practical evidence and implications of these multipliers on income and how homestay programme can be viewed as money spinner to enhance greater potential economic growth. Also, by looking at employment multipliers ratios of 1.12 (Type I) and 1.18 (Type II) it is revealed that employment impact of this programme is highly concentrated on the local people utilisation as a labour. Indeed, the employment and output multipliers from the Selangor homestay programme has shown a bigger impact compared to previous studies done in UK, Great Britain, Perhentian Island, Redang Island and Tioman Island. From EFA and regression analysis, the finding of this study has addressed the significant relationship between visitors’ overall satisfaction subject to destination cultural heritage and motivation to visit. Findings of the study suggest that all of the attributes proposed in the model had significant impacts on the overall visitors’ satisfaction of Selangor’s Homestay. More precisely, homestay programme fostered a better standard of living and healthy lifestyle by improving community socio-economic position. But the future challenge is to develop revenue mechanism to achieve higher income collection and profitability. It was found from this study that the net profit is 29.5%, which can be improved if the operators can retain higher spending from tourist visit. In this context, homestay operator must ensure that the “motivation to visit” and “destination cultural heritage attributes” are managed efficiently to enhance visitors’ satisfaction level. Even though government intervention is needed in policy coordination of events, promotional materials and SME business development, regional planning by all parties involved is essential

The psychological impact of coronavirus on university students and its socioeconomic determinants in Malaysia

This article examines the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon university students’ anxiety level and finds the factors associated with the anxiety disorder in Malaysia. We collected data from 958 students from 16 different universities using an originally designed questionnaire. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7) was used to estimate the anxiety. We find that 12.3% students were normal, whereas 30.5% were experiencing mild, 31.1% moderate, and 26.1% severe anxiety. Surprisingly, only 37.2% of students were aware of mental health support which was provided by their universities. Moreover, it was found that gender as male (Odds Ratio (OR= 0.798, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)= 0.61 - 1.04)) and having internet access (OR = 0.44, 95% CI= 0.24 - 0.80) were alleviating factors for the anxiety. Whereas, age above than 20 years (OR= 1.30, 95% CI= 0.96 - 1.75), ethnicity Chinese (OR=1.72, 95% CI= 0.95 - 3.1), any other disease (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.44 - 2.79), decreased family income (OR=1.71, 95% CI=1.34 - 2.17), more time spent on watching COVID-19 related news (OR=1.52, 95% CI=1.17 -1.97), and infected relative or friends (OR=1.62, 95% CI=1.06 - 2.50) were risk factors for anxiety among students. We suggest that the government of Malaysia should monitor the mental health of the universities’ students more closely and universities should open online mental health support clinics to avoid the adverse impacts of the anxiety disorder

Environmental NGOs involvement in dismantling illegal plastic recycling factory operations in Malaysia

The environmental issue is becoming an important sustainable development goal due to its devastating impact on the economy, society, and ecosystem. The need for managing environmental issues is leading a government to work closely with stakeholders such as environmental NGOs and local municipal councils. While collaboration between government and local municipal councils has been widely covered in the literature, the relationship between environmental NGOs and the government remains a complex issue. In the past, environmental NGOs have a responsibility to advise the government and create awareness to the public. However, the trend has soon changed, where environmental NGOs are becoming more active and influential in enacting policies to uphold environmental integrity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role played by Malaysian environmental NGOs and the current states of environmental integrity in Malaysia. This study used a qualitative case study of illegal plastic recycling factories in Malaysia to achieve research objectives. The findings show that environmental NGOs in Malaysia are a mediator between the government and the public. However, environmental NGOs are now more active in influencing the public to pressure the government to uphold environmental integrity. In addition, Malaysia's environmental integrity has increased with several policies by the government for firms, and consumers are already in place and gearing towards zero plastics. An improvement from the government side should focus on an integrated waste management system to enables circular economy adoption among firms. This study novelty lies in the introduction of environmental NGOs as a mediator to foster Malaysian environmental integrity and integrated waste managemen