Special thanks to every student that participated, the UWI Campus Registrar and Campus Ethics committee for granting approval to conduct this study at The UWI and our Supervisor for guiding us at every step of this project.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in high prevalence of negativecoping mechanisms and academic stressors amongst The UWI-STAstudents. Students have lower HRQoL compared to population norms ofthe English-speaking Caribbean, mainly having issues in the dimensionof Anxiety/Depression. As such there is the need for appropriatestudent interventions.

• Frequency of Academic stressors in the online university environmenthave significantly increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The high prevalence of negative coping mechanisms among The UWI-STAstudents was consistent with students from other universities.

• ‘Sleeping’ had a prevalence rate twice that of a study conducted in TheUWI, Cave Hill Campus.

• Prevalence of Substance use (alcohol, smoking, vaping, marijuana, drugs)was relatively low in this study; however, it was considerably highercompared to universities in New Zealand and Kenya: Smoking was twotimes higher and Marijuana use was nine times higher.

• Males employed more destructive coping strategies than females,consistent with multiple studies.

• HRQoL of The UWI-STA students was lower compared to the English-speaking Caribbean population norms, possibly due to the impact of thepandemic. Relationship between gender and HRQoL was consistent withthese population norms.

• Due to the sampling strategy used (quota sampling), these results are notgeneralizable, a limitation of this study.

The Prevalence of Negative Coping Mechanisms and Its Association with The Health-Related Quality of Life of University Students: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shubham Kumar, Steven Mann, Shivraj Motilal, Shifaa Muhammad, Summer Ramkissoon, Simone Rampersad, Shristi Sarker, Summer Sooknanan, Marsha A Ivey

Department of Para Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of The West Indies

Conclusion

e: shubham.kumar@my.uwi.edu ; marsha.ivey@sta.uwi.edu

References

Acknowledgments

Methodology

Introduction

Mental health of young adults has become a relevant matteramidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals employ various copingmechanisms to deal with their stresses and mental healthchallenges. The type of coping strategy determines the outcomesof their Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL).

Objectives

Discussion

4.2%

6.6%

12.3%

16.8%

16.9%

17.8%

20.8%

26.3%

43.7%

44.2%

45.8%

59.2%

65.9%

66.6%

70.4%

70.7%

74.6%

79.1%

83.0%

85.5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Illegal drugs (LSD, cocaine, etc)

Study drugs

Self-harm

Smoking cigarettes

Professional counselling

Marijuana intake

Vaping

Increased sexual activity

Excessive caffiene intake

Drinking alcohol

Aggressive behaviour

Excercising

Self isolation

Praying/Meditation

Support from family/friends

Watching TV

Venting

Poor eating habits…

Long hours on social media

Sleeping

Percent

Co

pin

g M

ech

an

ism

Figure 1: Coping mechanisms Used (sometimes/often/always) in the Past 6 months among Students, The UWI, 2021

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Mobility Self-Care Usual Activities Pain/Discomfort Anxiety/Depression

Per

cen

t o

f S

tud

ents

EQ-5D-5L Dimension

1-no problems

2- slight problems

3- moderate problems

4- severe problems

5- extreme problems

Figure 2: Students’ Health-related Quality of Life by EQ-5D-5L©

dimensions, The UWI, 2021

• Main Stressors: Academic stress/coursework demands (96.9%) and Timemanagement problems (90.3%).

• The most common EQ-5D-5L health states were 11113 (11.9%) and 11112 (11.6%).This reflects moderate and slight anxiety/depression respectively with no issue inthe other four dimensions.

• The average EQ5D5L Index value was 0.83 (SD=0.109, 95% CI=0.818-0.843).

• The average EQ-VAS score was 69.5 (SD=19.4, 95% CI=67.4-71.6).

• Females had a significantly lower HRQoL compared to males: EQ-VAS score (66.4vs 74.6) and Index value (0.81 vs 0.86) (p<0.05) respectively.

• Students who only used positive coping mechanisms had significantly higherHRQoL compared to those who used at least one negative coping mechanism: EQ-VAS scores (75.7 vs 68.1) and Index values (0.89 vs 0.82) (p<0.05 respectively).

Study Design

Cross-Sectional Study

Setting

The UWI-STA

Study Population

11 270 Undergraduate

Students

Sample Size

326 Students

Study Sample

Quota sampling by Faculty and Gender

distribution

Data Collection

Self-administered Questionnaires via

social media; use of EQ-5D-5L©

instrument

Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics;

Associations using t-tests, chi-square

tests

Data Protection

Participant’s informed consent;

No identifying information; Data

password-protected

Coping Mechanism

Poor eating

Caffeine

Venting

Self Harm

Self Isolation

Exercise

Praying

Sleep

Drugs This study investigated thestressors of students at theUniversity of the West Indies, StAugustine Campus (UWI-STA) andhow their coping mechanismsinfluenced their HRQoL during theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Results

Ethics approval: UWI Ethics Committee (ref: CREC-SA.0708/01/2021)

• To determine the prevalence of negative coping mechanismsutilized by The UWI-STA students.

• To determine the associated stressors.

• To measure the HRQoL of students.

• To examine the associations between coping mechanisms andHRQoL.

n = 326

1. EuroQol Research Foundation.: https://euroqol.org/eq-5d-instruments/

2. Bailey H, et al (2021). Health Qual Life Outcomes; 19: 97. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7980638/

3. Persaud N, Persaud I (2015). Int J High Educ. 20;5(1):11.