A Qualitative Study Examining Home as Faculty Workplace  During COVID-19 Self-Isolation

Stadtlander, Lee; Sickel, Amy

doi:10.18870/hlrc.v11i0.1218

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Stadtlander and Sickel conducted interviews with university faculty and found that whilst staff were generally satisfied with their home workplace, they felt more negative about online work and a loss of freedom and independence. The authors noted that some staff experienced an increase in their working hours as a result of the transition to online working, with some feeling overwhelmed by this transition [42]. The current study purposively sampled staff in student-facing roles from a variety of role families to represent the make-up of the university workforce.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Knight

Carlisle

O’Connor

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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This qualitative study explored the impact of COVID-19 self-isolation and social restriction measures on university students, through the perspectives of both students and the staff supporting them. The study comprised 11 focus groups (students) and 26 individual interviews (staff) at a higher education institution in England during a period of national lockdown (January–March 2021). Participants were university students (n = 52) with self-isolation experiences and university staff (n = 26) with student-facing support roles. Focus group and interview data were combined and analysed using an inductive thematic approach. Four themes emerged: ‘Adaptation during the pandemic’, ‘Practical, environmental, and emotional challenges of self-isolating’, ‘Social factors and their impact on COVID-19 testing and self-isolation adherence’, and ‘Supporting self-isolation’. Students and staff struggled with the imposed restrictions and shift to online education. Students found it difficult to adapt to new expectations for university life and reported missing out on professional and social experiences. Students and staff noted concerns about the impact of online teaching on educational outcomes. Students endorsed varied emotional responses to self-isolation; some felt unaffected whilst others experienced lowered mood and loneliness. Students were motivated by pro-social attitudes; campaigns targeting these factors may encourage continued engagement in protective behaviours. Staff struggled to manage their increased workloads delivering support for self-isolating students. Universities must consider the support needs of students during self-isolation and prepare for the long-term impacts of the pandemic on student wellbeing and educational attainment. Greater support should be provided for staff during transitional periods, with ongoing monitoring of workforce stress levels warranted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Knight

Carlisle

O’Connor

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Reported benefits from working from home (WFH) included reducing work-family conflict and role overload [ 2 ]; lower worker stress levels, improved health and reduced absence from work [ 3 , 5 ]; reduced depression levels in mothers of young children [ 4 ]; improved quality of life [ 6 ]. However such benefits had not been demonstrated consistently across different workforce and contexts, and in some cases WFH in general had been found to have negative consequences [ 7 – 10 ]. Studies report that WFH were not always necessarily beneficial to employees in terms of social, behavioural and physical factors [ 11 – 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research showed that it might impact workers’ creativity and opportunities to seek help and support, the management relationships, in particular on opportunities for feedback, learning & performance management [ 11 ]. Feeling stressed due to self-isolation, which in turn could affect their feelings about work [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teleworking from home experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic among public health workers (TelEx COVID-19 study)

et al. 2022

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Background When working from home (WFH) became temporarily necessary for staff as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it had to be implemented without significant organisational experience or understanding of WFH and its complexities. This study aims to determine the impacts experienced by staff who have undertaken WFH during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This was an observational cross-sectional study using survey with a purposive sampling strategy for staff from corporate and non-clinical departments. These staff undertook WFH during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. None of these staff had any direct operational roles in a hospital facility and clinical service. Participants’ self-reports of their mood while working in their normal workplace and while WFH were collected via the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE), a validated affect balance questionnaire. The responses from the open-ended question were analysed using thematic analysis approach. Results A total of 143 participants completed the survey responses. Majority (61%) WFH for four or more months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants rated their skills very highly on the technologies with an average rating of 9 (out of 10) for computer skills, smartphones and videoconferencing/teleconferencing applications. Participants felt WFH was an improvement on normal working, in particular in relation to their ability to concentrate and be productive. The “SPANE” relating to affect balance while WFH was completed by 124 participants (85.7%), resulting in a mean score of 5.45 (S.D. 2.98). The SPANE relating to normal working conditions was completed by 127 participant (88.8%) resulting in a mean score of 2.70 (S.D 3.69). This indicated that while participants’ positive emotions typically predominated in both situations, they felt slightly more positive on average with WFH. Over 90% participants reported that they would take the opportunity to WFH again if it were offered. Data obtained from the open-ended questions had complimented the findings of the structure close-ended questions in the benefits of remote working and support for their health and wellbeing. The open-ended questions had provided additional information on challenges which the participants encountered during the WFH experience and their suggested preference to sustain this workplace practice. Conclusions This study highlighted factors that impacted workers’ work processes, productivity, physical and mental health well-being while WFH and provided a foundation for considering how to best support a positive WFH experience.

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“…Research that specifically examines the impact of COVID-19 on higher education explores how workers have adjusted to the COVID-19 workplace, including professional services staff (e.g., Watermeyer et al, 2022), learning technologists (Watermeyer et al, 2021) and academics (Karatuna et al, 2022;Kennedy, Oliver & Littlejohn, 2022;McGaughey et al, 2021;Rode, Kennedy & Littlejohn, 2022;Stadtlander & Sickel, 2021). Almost universally noting increased workloads, these studies nonetheless tend to focus on cultural and organisational change rather than how information practices have adjusted through the shift to online and hybrid employment.…”

Section: The Work Of Higher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fractured academic space: digital literacy and the COVID-19 pandemic

Lloyd

Hicks

2023

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PurposeThe study focussed on information literacy practices, specifically on how higher education staff managed the transition from established and routinised in-person teaching, learning and working practices to institutionally mandated remote or hybrid working patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative study forms part of a broader research project, examining how information literacy and information practices unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase Three of this project, which forms the subject of this paper, employed semi-structured interviews to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace and, in particular, the role that technology and digital literacy plays in enabling or constraining information literacy practices necessary for the operationalisation of work.FindingsThe complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a fracturing of workplace information environments and worker information landscapes by disrupting all aspects of academic life. The study recognises that whilst the practice of information literacy is predicated on access to modalities of information, this practice is also shaped by material conditions. This has implications for digital literacy which, in attempting to set itself apart from information literacy practice, has negated the significant role that the body and the corporeal modality play as important sources of information that enable transition to occur. In relation to information resilience, the bridging concept of fracture has enabled the authors to consider the informational impact of crisis and transition on people's information experiences and people's capacity to learn to go on when faced with precarity. The concept of grief is introduced into the analysis.Originality/valueThis study presents original research.

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A Qualitative Study Examining Home as Faculty Workplace During COVID-19 Self-Isolation

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation on Students and Staff in Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Teleworking from home experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic among public health workers (TelEx COVID-19 study)

Fractured academic space: digital literacy and the COVID-19 pandemic

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