EWC661: PROPOSAL SAMPLE

LEVEL OF CURRENT ANXIETY STATE AND FACTORS THAT CAUSE

ANXIETY AMONG UITM STUDENTS.

1. INTRODUCTION

Mental health problems especially anxiety is becoming more common these days
especially among students as we can see more cases of suicide and self-harm scenario making
the headlines. A national survey has revealed that Malaysians aged 13 to 17 are critically
suffering from mental health problems (Lee, Menon & Rajaendram, 2018). According to the
survey, one in five are suffering depression (18.3%), two in five in anxiety (39.7%) and one
in 10 suffering from stress (9.6%). 2 in 5 people having anxiety is equivalent to 40% of the
people having anxiety and this could be considered as a serious matter but what is more
serious is that these people might not even know that they have anxiety.

The cases of suicide among students could have something to do with Malaysian
education system where it is exam-oriented that leads to pressure not only to students but
teachers and lecturers as well. Problems could come from exam stress, family problems,
friends issues, relationship problems and problems with the people around them. Universiti
Teknologi MARA Counselling Center director, Dr Zulfikar Ahmad advised parents to not put
unnecessary pressure on their children as this could bring more stress towards them which
will lead to poor performances. He also advised parents to monitor their children’s change in
behavior to see if their children are having any problem. Parents could look out for obvious
signs of anxiety such as frequent isolation, loss of appetite and changes in normal daily
routine. Parents should spend more time with their children to be able to notice any slight
changes in their children’s behaviour.

People having anxiety issues or problems can take measures such as exercising
consistently, sleeping at least eight hours a day and avoiding themselves from spending too

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much time on social media platforms and they need to start sharing their problems with either
their close family members or close friends. If detected early, anxiety problems or issues can
be cured before it becomes worse. An individual with anxiety should be given guidance and
support by those around him or her, especially parents and friends to rebuild his or her
confidence.

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

To excel in their academic aspect, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students must
first excel in their continuous assessment and their final examination. Studying hard and
smart is a must to achieve excellent academic result. Studying consumes most of the
students’ time and some students could be stressed and worn out more easily than others from
a certain amount of time spent on studying. Apart from that, some students are participating
or taking part in extra-curricular activities which put more strain on their time. Without a
good time management skill, these students would have a more challenging time in coping
with their academic life. The fact that UiTM students have packed schedule and a heavy 14-
week continuous enrolling in their courses have made it much more stressful for them. With
the amount of workload, time strain, packed schedule, busy day to day routine and extra-
curricular activities, some students may have developed a mental health problem without
them realizing it. Many students are not aware of the symptoms that shows anxiety and they
tend to ignore those symptoms. However, lecturers or friends should pay close attention to
their students and friends to see if they show any symptoms of anxiety so that any problems
could be avoided from becoming any worse. The following research questions have made the
researchers want to conduct a study on students’ anxiety condition :

1. Why some students could be seen feeling anxious while doing their daily activities?
2. What are the causes of the anxious feeling in their everyday lives?

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

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 The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ anxiety in relation to their study
and lifestyle of different courses in UiTM Puncak Alam, Selangor. This study suggests
several research objectives to be attained as follows:

(a) to identify the level of current anxiety state of UiTM students that interfere with
their daily activities

(b) to determine the factor that contribute to anxiety among UiTM students

4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of the study will benefit the medical staffs such as psychiatrists and
psychologists in several ways. Firstly, they will get a useful information about the level of
current anxiety state among students which will help them to diagnose anxiety disorders
among students and teaching the students healthier or more effective ways to cope with their
anxiety which can also reduce their anxiety symptoms in their daily life. The finding will also
provide the psychologists with significant information regarding the factors that lead to
students’ anxiety problems. Therefore, the psychiatrists or psychologists can offer some
therapy such as cognitive-behavioral therapy that help the student to manage the factors that
may contribute to their anxiety. However, the psychologists may encouraged the students to
approach some activities or situation that may provoke their anxiety to learn that their feared
outcomes are unlikely to happen just like what they are imagine. Lastly, this study may be
beneficial to the future researcher as they can get some information that might needed in their
research and some their question may possibly be answered by this study.

5. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There are several potential limitations of this study that should be considered when
appraising the findings. Firstly, the sampling method is not randomized. The questionnaire
are sent out only to UiTM students. Because it is not a truly randomized sample, this may
affect the study’s validity. Secondly, since the participation are voluntary, the questionnaire
are completed by the students that choose to fill it out. There are several types of anxiety
disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia
and others. Therefore, another limitation will be that the measurements for anxiety levels

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 does not account for the different types. According to Eisenberg et al (2007), females were
more than twice as likely as males to screen positive for anxiety disorders. Therefore, the
gender may influence the results for the level of their current anxiety state.

6. PREVIOUS STUDIES

Asadullapoor et al (2010) defined anxiety as feeling that undesirable and unclear like
when person predicts a danger situation. However, Dugas et al (2001) state that people with
anxiety worry about multiple aspects of their daily life; they fear future disasters, uncertain
situations, and worry about itself. Scovel (1991) identifies anxiety level as one of the
affective variables apart from learner personality type and motivation. Wong (2012) state that
high anxiety often takes the form of distraction or self-related cognition, such as excessive
self-evaluation, worry over potential failure and concern over opinion of others.

Several studies investigate the level of current anxiety state that can interferes with
daily activities and factors that contribute among student . Borkovec et al. (2014), Dugas et
al. (1998), Newman and Llera (2011), Well (1999) mention contemporary cognitive theories
of generalized anxiety disorder implicates the central importance of cognitive avoidance in
the maintenance of the disorder. Sexton and Dugas (2008) state cognitives avoidance involve
avoiding distress if internal experience like thought and emotion via mental strategies such as
thought suppression and thought substitution.

In a closer contact, Teris Cheung et al (2016) a surge of 22 student suicides was

reported since the star of the academic year between October 2015 and March 2016 due to
intensive study load alongside with other financial burden, interpersonal relationship
problems, adjustment in university life, etc. The youth suicide rates double the amount of the
average.

According to Anxiety and Depression Asociation of America (ADAA), National

prevalence data indicate that nearly 40 million people in the United States (18%) experience an
anxiety disorder in any given year. It also reported approximately 8% of children and
teenagers experience an anxiety disorder with most people developing symptoms before age
21 and only about one-third of those suffering from an anxiety disorder receive treatment, even
though the disorders are highly treatable. In addition, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO), 1 in 13 globally suffers from anxiety. The WHO reports that anxiety
disorders are the most common mental disorders worldwide with specific phobia, major

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depressive disorder and social phobia being the most common anxiety disorders.

This study hopefully would be able to understand more about anxiety level and
factors about anxiety. Besides, this study are also for finding a better strategy to make lowered
up the number of anxiety patient.
7. METHODOLOGY

This study will be conducted at Universiti Teknologi Mara ( UiTM ) Puncak Alam,
Selangor. The subjects of this study will be 50 students who are randomly selected regardless
of what course they are taking at the University. In this study, the students’ scores on Patient
Health Questionnaire Anxiety-Depression Scale (PHQ-ADS) – which combines the Patient
Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scales will be
used to measure their level of anxiety. Structural validity of the PHQ-ADS was evaluated
using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), assessing alternative models including a bi-factor
model. In the bi-factor model all items from the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 (16-items in total) were
loaded onto a general distress factor. Respective items of the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were
specified as subgroup factors. The internal reliability, standard error of measurement (SEM),
and convergent, construct, and factor structure validity, as well as sensitivity to change of the
PHQ-ADS were examined. This study will be conducted between October 2019 and
November 2019.

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8. REFERENCES

Anxiety and Depression Asociation of America (ADAA), (n.d.), understand the facts
depression, Retrived at September 26, 2019 at https://adaa.org/understanding-
anxiety/depression

Asadullapoor, A. Fati, L. & Gharaee, B. (2010) Metacognitive anxiety and the immediate and
delayed judgment of learning. Journal psychiat clinic psychol. 16 (4), 412–19.

Borkovec et al., 2004 T.D. Borkovec, O.M. Alcaine, E. BeharAvoidance theory of worry and
generalized anxiety disorder R.G. Heimberg, C.L. Turk, D. Mennin (Eds.),
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Advances in Research and Practice, Guilford Press,
New York (2004), pp. 77-108

Dugas et al., 1998 M.J. Dugas, F. Gagnon, R. Ladouceur, M.H. FreestonGeneralized anxiety
disorder: a preliminary test of a conceptual model Behav. Res. Ther., 36 (1998), pp.
215-226

Dugas et al., 2001 M.J. Dugas, P. Gosselin, R. Ladouceur Intolerance of uncertainty and
worry: investigating specificity in a nonclinical sample Cogn. Ther. Res., 25 (2001),
pp. 551-558

Eisenberg, D., Gollust, S. E., Golberstein, E., & Hefner, J. L. (2007,October). Prevalence and
correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among university students. Retrieved
from https://www.research
gate.net/publication/5657600_Prevalence_and_Correlates_of_Depression_Anxiety
and_Suicidality_Among_University_Students

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Felman, A. (2018, October 25). What causes anxiety?. Retrieved from https://www.medicaln
ewstoday.com/articles/323456.php

Lee, Menon & Rajaendram. (Oct 12, 2018). Too many teens suffering from stress. Retrieved
from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/10/12/too-many-teens-suffering-
from-stress-examoriented-culture-not-only-affecting-students-but-teachers-a

Newman and Llera, 2011 M.G. Newman, S.J. LleraA novel theory of experiential avoidance
in generalized anxiety disorder: a review and synthesis of research supporting a contrast
avoidance model of worry Clin. Psychol. Rev., 31 (2011), pp. 371-382

Scovel, T. (1991). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety
research. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young (Eds.) Language anxiety: From theory and
research to classroom implication (pp. 15-25). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Sexton and Dugas, 2008 K.A. Sexton, M.J. DugasThe Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire:
validation of the English translation J. Anxiety Disord., 22 (2008), pp. 355-370

Teris Cheung et al , 2016 ,Depression, Anxiety and Symptoms of Stress among Baccalaureate
Nursing Students in Hong Kong: A Cross-Sectional Study retrived at September 28,
2019 from https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/8/779/htm

Wells, 1999 A. WellsA metacognitive model and therapy for generalized anxiety disorder
Clin. Psychol. Psychother., 6 (1999), pp. 86-95

Wong, M. S. L. (2012). Language anxiety coping strategies of pre-service teachers.

Proceedings of the 7th Malaysia International Conference on Languages, Literatures, and
Cultures (pp. 1-7). Retrieved (2 October 2013) from www.fbmk.upm.edu.my/micollac/
Proceedings

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