FPH UI Doctoral Research: The Role of Resilience Against Mental Emotional Disorders (GME) and Quality of Life in Productive Age Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in East Jakarta

Monday, January 4, 2023, the Epidemiology Doctoral Study Program, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia held an open session for the Promotion of Doctor of Epidemiology with promovendus Fajaria Nurcandra. This session was chaired by Prof. Dr. dr. Evi Martha, M.Kes with Promoter Prof. Dr. Sudarto Ronoatmodjo, S.K.M., M.Sc., and Co-promoter Prof. Dr. Budi Anna Keliat, S.Kp., M.App.Sc., and Prof. dr. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, M.S., D.Sc. Acting as examiner in the doctoral promotion open session included Prof. Dr. dr. Ratna Djuwita Hatma, M.P.H .; Prof. Drs. Isbandi Rukminto Adi, M.Kes., Ph.D.; Dr. Besral, S.K.M., M.Sc.; Dr. Soewarta Kosen, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. PH .; and Dr. dr. Haryadi Wibisono, M.P.H. Fajaria defended his dissertation entitled “The Role of Resilience Against Mental Emotional Disorders (GME) and Quality of Life in Productive Age Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in East Jakarta” at an online session.

“The change in the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a sharp increase in morbidity, mortality, psychosocial disturbances in society, and economic instability. Community participation in reducing mobility through work from home or staying at home is needed to reduce morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, this drastic change in situation and behavior has created instability in the mental health and quality of life of the people. Therefore, to maintain these two things, the community needs to build resilience both individually, in the family and in the community,” said Fajaria, opening his dissertation presentation.

The explanatory sequential mixed methods study with a cross-sectional design approach and a qualitative method using the Rapid Assessment Procedure (RAP) design aims to analyze the role of resilience (individuals, families and communities) in GME and individual quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic in East Jakarta. Family resilience and community resilience in this dissertation are the perceptions of selected individuals towards the resilience of their families and the resilience of their communities. The community’s perception of community resilience includes the education system, economic system, political/government system, health system, infrastructure system, socio-cultural system, and pandemic management system. GME is a screening for conditions in which a person’s emotions change excessively due to excessive fear, anxiety and worry as signs and symptoms of mental health disorders as measured by the Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ).

While the quality of life in the dissertation is defined as the condition of an individual’s life including general health, physical, mental and social environment as measured using the Indonesian Health Related Quality of Life (INA-HRQoL) questionnaire. The subjects of this study consisted of 300 people of productive age, namely 18-60 years who have lived in East Jakarta since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted using focus group discussion (FGD) techniques with the community and in-depth interviews with stakeholders.

The results of Fajaria Nurcandra’s dissertation found the role of poor individual, family and community resilience as a risk factor for GME and poor quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic in East Jakarta. The role of individual resilience to GME and quality of life is determined by the age of family decision makers, social support and self-control. The role of community resilience to GME and quality of life is determined by the stability of the education system, health system, political/government system, and pandemic management system. While family resilience was found to play the most role in quality of life. Collaborative and responsive governance systems determine the stability of the components of community resilience.

Based on these findings, Fajaria suggested to the central government and DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to strengthen and improve standard operating procedures and coordinate pandemic management in a collaborative manner to deal with another pandemic in the future. Mitigation, especially related to mental health during a pandemic, is also needed for groups with GME and healthy people. For healthy people, interventions can be in the form of health promotion and prevention of health problems. Promotion of mental health in healthy people includes physical, positive emotions, positive thoughts, positive behavior, positive relationships, and positive spirituality, while prevention of health problems covers the individual, family, and community levels. Meanwhile, people at risk of GME need strengthening screening as well as curative and rehabilitative assistance from the nearest health facility.

Based on the results of his dissertation, Fajaria was successfully declared graduated with cum laude and was declared a Doctor in Epidemiology. Fajaria Nurcandra is the 8th Doctor of Epidemiology graduate in 2022, the 99th Doctor of Epidemiology graduate and the 361st Doctor graduate at FPH UI.