In light of the recent and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the world, a team of Student Ambassadors from Asian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) IMU created a video series raising awareness surrounding the facts around COVID-19 and the implications it has on our mental health. The team focused on youth and young adults, aged between 15 to 30 years-old, as our main target audience.
| To break it down, we created a total of 6 episodes with the following titles: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode 1 | Must Know Facts about COVID-19 | An educational video highlighting 7 lesser-known facts surrounding COVID-19. |
| Episode 2 | Youth Mental Health During the Pandemic | Dr Chong Shue Ling, an IMU Psychology lecturer, spoke about the possible mental health issues suffered by youth and how to reach out for help during the pandemic. She also shared various ways to maintain better mental health during the pandemic. |
| Episode 3 | Essential Safe Practices during the Pandemic | An informative video highlighting the various SOPs and precautions we should adopt to avoid the transmission of COVID-19. Some of the measures highlighted included proper social distancing, handwashing techniques, proper method of wearing of medical masks and sanitisation of frequently touched areas. |
| Episode 4.1 | Experiences and Advice by a Frontline Doctor (1st Speaker) | Dr Navindhren, a doctor who worked in Sabah and Seremban treating COVID-19 patients, shared his experience and difficulties faced as a frontline doctor. He also shared many useful advice on how we can stay safe and stop the spread of the coronavirus. |
| Episode 4.2 | Experiences and Advice by a Frontline Doctor (2nd Speaker) | Dr Sonia, a doctor working in Hospital Queen Elizabeth at Sabah managing COVID-19 patients, shared her mental and physical stressors during this pandemic. She also shared about how the virus could also affect youth and how youths usually responded upon contracting the virus. |
| Episode 5 | Experiences and Advice by a COVID-19 Survivor | Nissanth, a COVID-19 survivor from Klang shared how he contracted the virus and the emotions he felt during the entire process. He also shared about his mental well-being while in quarantine and how people can step up to better assist COVID-19 patients in dealing with the emotional trauma from the disease. |
| Activity Details: | |
|---|---|
| Date of Activity | 18 – 24 December 2020 |
| Duration of Videos | 2.5 – 9 mins each video |
| Platforms Used | Instagram, YouTube |
| Number of People reached | 406 (Instagram) 16 (YouTube) |
| Number of Committee Members involved | 7 medical students |
Overall, we believe that this project has achieved its intended outcome that is mainly to raise awareness among the Youth regarding COVID-19 and its impacts on our mental health. By exposing our target audience to various perspectives such as those from a qualified psychologist, frontline doctors and a COVID-19 survivor, it has helped our audience to have a clearer view of how the pandemic affects each one of us in our own unique ways.
Based on feedback we received, most of our audience members found the videos to be informative and engaging. Moreover, they mentioned that these videos helped to broaden their understanding towards the pandemic and taught them how they can better cope with the challenges that has arisen especially in the field of mental health.
Related Information:
Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/youthagainstcovid19_/
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClHPepFZark_mf11n3akZbw
| IMU Staff and Students Involved in this Activity | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dr Chong Shue Ling | Lecturer, Department of Psychology | Guest Speaker for Episode 2 |
| Dr Arun Kumar Basavaraj | Senior Lecturer, Head of Pathology Division | Faculty Advisor |
| V Jaya Verman Vishvanathan | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 120) | Project Leader |
| Samuel Chau Jun Hao | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 220) | Assistant Project Leader |
| Jeyanthi A/P Jeyarajah | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 220) | Secretary |
| Lai Shi Min | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 220) | Assistant Secretary |
| Matthew Ling Jia Chih | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 220) | Treasurer |
| Aishwarya Shivakumar Iyer | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 220) | Head of Publicity |
| Kho Kai Ern | AMSA IMU Student Ambassador (ME 220) | Assistant Head of Publicity |
