Abstract
Background: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were already reporting a low quality of life (QoL) perception, with a significant impact on mental and physical health due to various stress factors associated with work overload. The objective of this study was to evaluate the QoL impact on Chilean teachers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis was performed following a longitudinal design on a sample of 63 Chilean teachers in pre-pandemic and COVID-19 pandemic timeframes. QoL perception, along with teachers’ sociodemographic data, was evaluated via the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire. Sociodemographic variables presented no significant variations in pre-pandemic and pandemic comparisons. QoL, however, showed a significant decrease during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic measurement (p < 0.01). In each gender, there were significant differences between pre-pandemic and pandemic timeframes, with a greater impact among women in the mental and physical component summary variables and seven of the eight QoL scales (p < 0.01). Between age categories, people under 45 presented significant differences (p < 0.05) between pre-pandemic and pandemic timeframes in all summary dimensions and measurements. In conclusion, Chilean teachers’ QoL perception has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings could be related to work overload due to teleworking or feelings of uncertainty, loneliness, and fear that the pandemic and its associated confinements will worsen.
Highlights
Due to the rapid worldwide spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), work organizations have had to adapt to public health measures regarding social distancing to reduce viral dissemination, forcing a massive shift towards teleworking [1]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 155 random teachers were contacted via e-mail, all of whom had participated in the Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological
This background has been observed in other regions of the world [22], as well as among Chilean teachers, who reported a significant association between low quality of life (QoL) perception and the mental component summary dimension among younger teachers (≤44 years vs. ≥45 years) [15]
Summary
Due to the rapid worldwide spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), work organizations have had to adapt to public health measures regarding social distancing to reduce viral dissemination, forcing a massive shift towards teleworking [1] In this context, teleworking is a factor that has been a major challenge for some professionals, with a lack of control over working hours and increased psychosocial risks associated with stress and work overload [2,3]. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were already reporting a low quality of life (QoL) perception, with a significant impact on mental and physical health due to various stress factors associated with work overload. These findings could be related to work overload due to teleworking or feelings of uncertainty, loneliness, and fear that the pandemic and its associated confinements will worsen
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