MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS AND PARENTS’ COMMUNICATION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the mental health awareness and communication with parents among healthcare students (Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences) across three private universities in Selangor, Malaysia. The study hypothesized that healthcare students would have good mental health awareness and positive communication with parents about mental health. An online survey composed of 38 items was developed and distributed among the selected students. Results showed that 418 out of 575 participants completed the survey with an 85.7% response rate. The survey questions had high reliability (a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.876), and the factor analysis showed that the survey examined one construct. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences in mental health awareness among students with respect to gender, nationality, and year group, but significant differences were observed between religious groups (p=0.017) and only-child in the family (p=0.026). Male Malaysian students showed a significantly positive parent-student communication score compared to female students (p=0.004) and international students (p=0.040). This study shows positive growth in mental health awareness among students in health-related courses. Although parents’ communication about mental health is affected by factors such as gender and religion; students perceived their parents are supportive regarding mental health issues. Further studies are recommended to explore deep the factors that impact mental health communications.