Correlation Between Anxiety Level and Compliance with Health Protocol in Medical Faculty Students 3 Years After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Face-to-face learning after the COVID-19 pandemic with the requirement of implementing health protocols tends to make students vulnerable to experiencing psychological problems such as anxiety. Anxiety is a basic human emotion consisting of fear and uncertainty and usually occurs when an individual believes that the event is a threat to self or self-esteem. Objective: To determine the correlation between anxiety levels and compliance with health protocols among students from the Faculty of Medicine, Medical Study Program Class of 2021, Airlangga University after 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Survey using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Health Protocol Compliance questionnaire which was distributed online via Google Form. Results: The level of anxiety that most students experience is mild anxiety (60,8%). Regarding gender, female students’ anxiety levels in all categories are higher than male students, where levels of mild, moderate, and severe anxiety in female students are (60,6%, 76,47%, and 100%). It was found that (59,49%) of students did not comply with the implementation of health protocols 3 years after the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the chi-square statistical test showed a significant relationship between anxiety levels and compliance with the implementation of health protocols with a p-value of 0,008. Conclusion: The anxiety level of the majority of students from the Faculty of Medicine in Surabaya is mild anxiety. Most of the students from the Faculty of Medicine in Surabaya do not comply with implementing health protocols. Keywords: Anxiety, pandemic, COVID-19, students, health protocols