Exploring the Quality of Life of University Students in Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Survey Using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) Assessment.

Abstract

PURPOSE To comprehensively assess the quality of life (QoL) of Egyptian university students. DESIGN Cross-sectional online study. SETTING Online settings of university students from August to October 2023. SUBJECTS University students aged 18-25 from various institutions in Egypt. MEASURES Physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) scale. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 27.0. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to detect significant associations while Spearman correlation was used for correlation analysis. RESULTS A total of 1930 Egyptian university students were included. Students showed outperformance in the psychological health and social relationships domains, with medians of 58 ± 20.8 and 58 ± 25, respectively, compared to physical health with a median of 46 ± 17.8 and environmental health with a median score of 16.6 ± 21.9. Non-medical students reported higher QoL scores, particularly in physical, psychological, and social domains, compared to their medical counterparts (P-values <0.001, 0.007, and 0.002, respectively). No significant differences were observed between genders in any of the domains. Academic performance satisfaction significantly correlated with higher QoL scores across all domains (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS This multi-center study sheds light on diverse aspects influencing QoL of Egyptian university students. The findings underscore the importance of addressing academic stressors, promoting health behaviors, and tailoring interventions based on students' academic backgrounds with larger and more representative samples.