University of Malaya Graduate Student Won 3rd Place for APRU Global Health Program Conference Student Poster Contest

Nurul Syafika binti Amir Hamzah, a double Master's Degree student from University of Malaya, won 3rd place in the Graduate Student category for APRU Global Health Program Conference Student Poster Contest.

A double Master’s Degree student from University of Malaya has recently won 3rd place in the ‘APRU Global Health Program Conference Graduate Student Poster Contest’ for her research on mental health problems struggle among University of Malaya first year undergraduates.

APRU was established in 1997 by the presidents of California Institute of Technology (Thomas Everhart), University of California, Berkeley (Chang-Lin Tien), University of California, Los Angeles (Charles Young) and University of Southern California (Steven B. Sample). Seeing the rapid economic integration of the region and the formation of APEC, the founding presidents' vision was to establish a premier alliance of research universities as an advisory body to international organizations, governments and business on the development of science and innovation as well as on the broader development of higher education. The vision now encompasses focusing new knowledge on the global challenges affecting the region.

Nurul Syafika binti Amir Hamzah is currently doing her double Master’s degree with Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (MedSc) and Department of Global Health and Socio-epidemiology, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Japan (MPH).

Syafika’s cross sectional study aims to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress as well as their associated factors among University of Malaya first year undergraduates. Data was collected using iSurvey, a mobile application during the orientation week. The validated Depression, Anxiety and Stress 21 Item (DASS-21) was used to measure demographic characteristics, socioeconomic condition, lifestyle and mental health status. This study was incorporated within Healthy Campus Initiatives (HCI) Program and was funded by Ecological Approach towards Health Campus at University of Malaya grant (RU009-2014).

It was found that prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress from moderate to extremely severe are 22%, 50% and 12%. Financial aid, living arrangement and household income are significantly associated with depression, while gender, age and medical illness are significantly associated with anxiety. The factors associated with stress, on the other hand, are living arrangement and having medical illness.

The winners of the student poster competition were judged by APRU Global Health Program members and a representative from the conference host university. All posters of the students will be presented at the APRU Global Health Program Conference, hosted by University of the Philippines, which will be held on October 16-19, 2017 in Manila.

Contact:
Nurul Syafika binti Amir Hamzah
1. (MedSc) Dept of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. (MPH) Dept of Global Health and Socio-epidemiology,
Kyoto University School of Public Health, Japan
Email: [email protected]

Published: 03 Aug 2017

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Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) 8th Floor, Chancellery University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA

+603-7967 3202
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