Mediating Effects of Fear on Mental Health among Undergraduate Students during Open Distance Learning

BACKGROUND: Online distance learning (ODL) known as the flexible learning environment can trigger a negative impact on students' mental health. The study aimed to identify the influence of fear as mediator between mental health problem and university students' perception on ODL.

METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving a convenient sampling of 258 undergraduate students. Self-administered structured questionnaires adapted from the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), were used to assess the severity of psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety and stress) and fear. The perception towards ODL is also designed to assess the students' perception related to ODL implementation. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS).

RESULTS: Overall, 84.2%, 95.0% and 67.4% of the participants experienced moderate to very severe level of depression, anxiety and stress, respectively. In addition, 82.6% of them suffering with moderate to extreme level of fear, of which 81.8% of participants had a negative view on ODL. The results of SEM-PLS revealed that there are complementary partial mediation effects of fear on the relationship between depression and students' perception during ODL (β = 0.502, t-value = 0.828, P-value = 0.017). The anxiety (β = 0.353, t-value = 5.401, P-value = 0.000) and stress (β = 0.542, t-value = 8.433, P-value = 0.000) have directly influenced on fear.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that university students had the prevalence of psychological symptoms and fear during ODL. In line with this, fear contributes significantly to the mental health status of university students and has negatively impacted the students' perception during ODL implementation.