A Longitudinal Study of the Psychological State of Teachers Before and During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Mexico

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak significantly impacted people’s lives. Within the education system, the teaching mode drastically changed to adapt to the social distancing restrictions due to the pandemic. Consequently, teachers have been facing challenges associated with remote learning in addition to those of the pandemic. The aim of the present study was to assess the psychological state among teachers at two stages: pre-pandemic (November 2019) and during the pandemic (June-July 2020 and June-July 2021). Information regarding demographic data, depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21), and burnout syndrome (MBI-ES) was collected using validated questionnaires. Results showed a significantly higher scores as well as a higher prevalence in the DASS-21 and the MBI-ES scales, on the second measurement taken during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period and the first evaluation during the pandemic. During the second evaluation on pandemic stage, female teachers of ≥45 years of age with a college-level of education, 11 years of teaching experience, and currently teaching at preschools and primary schools were significantly associated with higher anxiety, stress, EE, and burnout scores. In addition, female teachers aged ≥45 years reported higher PD and PA scores. Finally, an association between burnout syndrome and depression was identified in the evaluations carried out during the pandemic considering both the total sample and the analysis per gender. The study shows that teachers’ mental health has been negatively affected by the pandemic. Efforts from the education system and health authorities are crucial to design and implement strategies to improve teachers’ mental health during the fight against COVID-19.

The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Music Education: A Review of the Literature

“…Music teachers who work in general, vocational and high education systems did not always feel good during the pandemic due to increased workload and lack of balance between work and private life. That is confirmed by other studies (Beames et al, 2021;Cortés-Álvarez et al, 2022), which found that teachers' mental health was negatively affected by the pandemic, especially for teachers over the age of 45 who teach in preschool or primary school. Well-being is also negatively affected by the increased workload of physical education teachers (O 'Brien et al, 2022), and the growing demands and challenges of the teaching profession during a global pandemic may lead to a greater risk of burnout (Gicheva, 2021).…”

Teachers during the COVID-19 Era: The Mediation Role Played by Mentalizing Ability on the Relationship between Depressive Symptoms, Anxious Trait, and Job Burnout

“…Overall, the continuing shift between in-person and remote teaching had a negative impact on teachers' anxiety and depression levels [34]. Specifically, two studies [35,36] focused on the associations between depression symptoms, anxiety, and job burnout. To be specific, a first study by Cortes-Alvarez and colleagues [37] revealed that levels of depersonalization increased during the pandemic as compared with the pre-pandemic period as well as, as expected, anxiety and depressive symptoms.…”

“…According to the abovementioned literature, almost all the studies analyzed burnout syndrome as a comprehensive concept and did not consider the specific role of the depersonalization dimension. Therefore, considering the relationships found in previous studies [35][36][37][38] as well as the characteristics of depersonalization (in terms of cynical attitudes and negative feelings), and the role played by depressive symptoms (in terms of absence of positive emotions) and anxiety (in terms of fear), the main purpose of this paper was to consider the inter-relationships between those constructs with four models, which are defined in the dedicated hypotheses section.…”

Depression, anxiety, and stress and adverse pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with history of recurrent pregnancy loss in Nigeria

“…The overall subscale score was classified into normal, mild, moderate, severe, and extremely severe categories. 19 The recommended cut-off scores for conventional severity labels (normal, moderate, severe, and extremely severe) are the following: depression (normal = 0-9, mild = 10-13, moderate = 14-20, severe = 21-27 and extremely severe = 28-42); anxiety (normal = 0-7, mild = 8-9, moderate = 10-14, severe = 15-19 and extremely severe = 20-42); and stress (normal = 0-14, mild = 15-18, moderate = 19-25, severe = 26-33 and extremely severe = 34-42). Scores on the DASS-21 were multiplied by two to calculate the final score.…”