Exploring the Relationships of Financial Literacy and Financial Behaviour with Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) among the Low-Income Working Population in Malaysia during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mohamad Fazli Sabri; Mas Ayu Said; Amirah Shazana Magli; Tan Maw Pin; Hussein Rizal; Nithiah Thangiah; Muslimah Ithnin; Hazreen Abdul Majid; Rozmi Ismail; Tin Tin Su; Abdul Rahim Husniyah

doi:10.3390/ijerph191912520

Exploring the Relationships of Financial Literacy and Financial Behaviour with Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) among the Low-Income Working Population in Malaysia during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 30;19(19):12520. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912520.

Authors

Mohamad Fazli Sabri¹, Mas Ayu Said^{2

3}, Amirah Shazana Magli¹, Tan Maw Pin⁴, Hussein Rizal^{2

5}, Nithiah Thangiah^{2

5}, Muslimah Ithnin⁶, Hazreen Abdul Majid^{2

5

7}, Rozmi Ismail⁸, Tin Tin Su⁹, Abdul Rahim Husniyah¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia.
² Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
³ Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
⁵ Centre for Population Health c/o, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
⁶ Corporate Communication Unit, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya 62000, Malaysia.
⁷ Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia.
⁸ Psychology and Human Wellbeing Research Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia.
⁹ South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO) & Global Public Health, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya 47500, Malaysia.

Abstract

This cross-sectional study examined the relationships of financial literacy (FL) and financial behaviour (FB) with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income working population (20-60 years old) in Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire survey was used with HRQOL data were gathered using the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) tool. A generalised linear model was employed to examine the hypothesised relationships between the constructs. From 1186 respondents, the majority were employed (73.9%), had a monthly household income of less than RM 2500 (74.5%), and did not have any chronic medical conditions (74.5%). The mean (SD) values of FL, FB, and EQ-5D-5L were 5.95 (1.48), 22.08 (4.79), and 0.96 (0.10), respectively. The results of the adjusted model revealed lower age group, Malay ethnicity, Indian ethnicity, and increased FB score as significant determinants of higher EQ-5D-5L scores. With the addition of the chronic medical condition factor into the saturated model, the lower age group, ethnicity, and no chronic medical condition were significant determinants of higher HRQOL. The effects of FB on QOL were confounded by chronic diseases, implying that interventions that focus on improving FB for those with chronic medical condition may help to improve the QOL among the low-income working population.

Keywords: financial behaviour; financial literacy; health-related quality of life; low-income; pandemic.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Chronic Disease
Cross-Sectional Studies
Health Status
Humans
Literacy
Malaysia / epidemiology
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Quality of Life*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia under the Long-Term Research Grant Scheme–Malaysia Research University Network (LRGS-MRUN) fund for this study entitled “Determinants of Financial Well-being among B40 Households” with a project code (LRGS/1/2016/UKM/02/1/4).