COVID-19 pandemic has hit the whole world unexpectedly and has caught all of us off-guard. Malaysia was not an exception as the first case of positive COVID-19 was reported on Jan 25th, 2020. As the number of cases rapidly multiplied, the government announced an MCO as a mitigation strategy. MCO is indeed new water for everyone, as almost everyone is affected, including university undergraduates. Thus, this study aims to explore the coping strategies used by the undergraduates for continuity of learning in the new normal. A total of 143 undergraduate students in one of the public universities in Malaysia participated in the open ended online survey. The survey was set as an open-ended survey to capture various responses. Responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Various socio-psychological impacts of COVID-19 on the daily life of undergraduates were captured, as well as their emotional rants. Thematic analysis reported on four types of positive coping strategies i.e., problem-focused, emotion-focused, spiritually-focused socially-focused strategies, and one negative coping strategy which is avoidant coping. These findings are valuable to understand the socio-psychological impacts towards undergraduates, and are important for decision-makers and healthcare providers to develop effective educational and psychological interventions for undergraduates to create a sense of security and to eliminate unnecessary fear and improve participation in online learning.
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