Why are People in East Jakarta Having the Poor Health-Related Quality of Life During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly changed all aspects of people’s lives and is also contributing to the deterioration of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Therefore, this study aims to assess the factors affecting HRQoL in East Jakarta. A cross-sectional design was used with 336 respondents, who met both the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were selected by multistage cluster sampling. The results showed that approximately 40.2% of the respondents had poor HRQoL with an average score of 2.7 (0.79), and this was significantly associated with living in RW Siaga (PR 1.529; 95%CI 1.062-2.202), having no local lockdown experience (PR 1.800; 95%CI 1.060-3.056), poor individual resilience (PR 1.794; 95%CI 1.259-2.558), and depression (PR 1.563; 95%CI 1.096-2.230). To prevent poor HRQoL in East Jakarta, it is recommended to improve the RW Siaga program by implementing it in a persuasive and humanist manner. People who are in charge of this program must understand how to communicate with the community to assure it will not be contra-productive with its initial objectives. At the same time, community leaders' involvement and empowerment are also important to increase individual resilience and prevent depression by playing the role of a ‘trained community counselor’ to briefly assess the individual mental health.