Quality of Life Among People with Positive COVID-19 Experience in Semarang, Indonesia

¹ Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Science Universitas Dian Nuswantoro, Semarang, Indonesia
² Center of Excellence in Science and Technology, Universitas Dian Nuswantoro, Semarang, Indonesia
³ Department Faculty of Health, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

^* Corresponding author: sri.handayani@dsn.dinus.ac.id

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many ways of life, especially among people who experience the infection. The pandemic negatively affected the physical, social, and psychological functioning of individuals and societies, worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which key factors may influence the QoL of people with COVID-19 in Semarang, Indonesia. The online cross-sectional study recruited 107 participants. Adults (≥ 17 years of age) with positive COVID-19 infection history were targeted. Quality of life was measured with the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. The questions explain how respondents attribute to each aspect of their life and how problematic or satisfactory they perceive them for their overall quality of life. Results showed that the highest mean score was found for the social domain (14.112.89), and the lowest mean score was observed for the environment domain (13.272.01). The presence of comorbidities had a statistically significant difference in the environment domain (p-value:0.006). During the COVID-19 pandemic, people had less satisfaction with their environment. The presence of anxiety often promotes changes in the perception of QoL for all domains among respondents (p-value: <0.0001). Investing such resources in these groups may be an efficient option to maximize positive public health impacts in this resource-poor environment.