Abstract
The COVID 19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the physical and emotional health of the population. In the case of specific populations, such as students and instructors, the change in the teaching-learning model has required both groups to adapt to online learning platforms and modify all academic activities in the context of implementing the emergency remote education model. The relevance of mental health has been continually neglected; however, due to the COVID-19 epidemiological outbreak, the impact of confinement on populations’ mental health has been incorporated into public discussion. In particular, the health emergency’s impact on health workers in the first line of care has been highlighted. The effect of mental health on the lockdown population and those encouraged to work from home, a group in which university professors and students are located, has been emphasized. To understand the changes faced by higher education instructors and students, derived from the implementation of the emergency remote teaching model in the context of the pandemic, we developed a study to investigate the experiences of this sector, with particular emphasis on the mental health stressors associated with their academic activities. We examined indicators related to anxiety, depression, motivation-demotivation, coping, and contextual and family conditions that could generate stress in the teaching-learning process during the emergency remote teaching model. We recruited a sample of 1,040 participants (380 instructors and 660 students) from more than 97 universities and 118 academic programs across the country. As a result, we have found that teachers have faced less difficulty with the teaching-learning model changes and how they deal with confinement. Similarly, this study has identified that women in general, both instructors and students, have more significant signs and symptoms related to mental health conditions, while men, both instructors, and students, resent the lack of socialization in the work and study centers environments.
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the current COVID-19 pandemic will cause a significant increase in stress-related conditions and mental health problems (Kaufman et al, 2020)
This manuscript results from a study that had, as a general research question, understanding the changes faced by teachers and students of higher education derived from implementing the emergency remote teaching model in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak
This figure is consistent with other sources, which state that young people are one of the social groups that have had the most significant impact on their unemployment levels due to the health emergency caused by COVID-19
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the current COVID-19 pandemic will cause a significant increase in stress-related conditions and mental health problems (Kaufman et al, 2020). Public health emergencies and epidemics have been documented to be associated with increased psychological distress and uncertainty affecting the general population (Lotsch et al, 2017; Sahu, 2020). Lockdown mobility restrictions have an imminent impact on university students’ lifestyles and may lead to various psychological maladjustments, such as stress, anxiety, and depression (Jakovljevic et al, 2020). This series of changes that significantly modify the daily routine requires both students and instructors to adapt to online learning platforms and modify faceto-face academic activity (Debbarma and Durai, 2021). Travel restrictions, and isolation are stressful experiences that are associated with self-inflicted harm and suicidal tendencies (Matthews et al, 2019), as well as sleep disorders (Gritsenko et al, 2020; Besser et al, 2020), and low perception of general health status (Besser et al, 2020)
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