Online education and the mental health of faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan

Abstract

While the negative impact of the pandemic on students’ mental health has been studied around the world, very little is known about the mental health of faculty and staff. This research aims to examine mental health among Japanese faculty members who taught online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited 537 university faculty members and assessed their mental health using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), both retrospectively (during the academic year before the onset of the pandemic) and during the pandemic. We also evaluated workload (number of online lectures taught and preparation time per class), difficulty in using information technology (IT) for online classes, and satisfaction with the university support service for online education. As a result, the WHO-5 score during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly lower than before, and 33.5% of the faculty members were recognized as being at risk for mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic. A binomial logistic regression analysis revealed two significant risk factors for mental illness—faculty members were more at risk for mental illness when they experienced difficulty in using IT for online classes, and were unsatisfied with the administrative support for online education. The deterioration of mental health during the COVID-19 was not predicted by workload, such as the number of online lectures and preparation time. These results suggest the importance of improving workplace support services, especially IT support, to prevent mental health deterioration among faculty teaching online.

Nudge or not, university teachers have mixed feelings about online teaching

“…This can be explained by a lack of training, support, and teaching resources that were available to university teachers in assisting them with a transition to online modes of teaching. There is evidence for this in rich and poor countries alike, such as in Australia (Dodo-Balu, 2017 , 2018 , 2022 ), Bangladesh (Saha et al, 2022 ), China (Liu et al, 2022 ; Tsegay et al, 2022 ), Egypt (Elewa et al, 2022 ), Japan (Kita et al, 2022 ), Pakistan (Shahid et al, 2022 ; Yasmin, 2022 ), Sweden (Hietanen and Svedholm-Häkkinen, 2023 ), Vietnam (Nguyen et al, 2022 ), and the United States (Sessions et al, 2022 ).…”

How university instructors’ achievement goals are related to subjective well-being: A cross-lagged panel analysis.

“…Adding to this already challenging landscape, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in abrupt changes for university instructors such as redesigning their courses for the online learning context and working from home due to university closures, among other professional and lifestyle shifts. Studies indicate that these added challenges exacerbated difficulties that instructors were already facing with their SWB (Kita et al, 2022; Schmidt-Crawford et al, 2021; Schwab et al, 2022). As such, there is a need to investigate factors that impact university instructors’ SWB and how their SWB affects their professional lives, particularly in times of crisis.…”

Interaction during online classes fosters engagement with learning and self-directed study both in the first and second years of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Higher education was profoundly impacted worldwide, as institutions were forced to switch from traditional face-to-face education to remote (online) emergency education to prevent the spread of the virus ( Sahu, 2020 ). Accompanying other lifestyle changes, the switch to online education adversely impacted the mental health of students and faculty ( Kita et al, 2022 ; Odriozola-González et al, 2020 ; Son et al, 2020 ), and disrupted learning ( Aguilera-Hermida, 2020 ; Reyes-Portillo et al, 2022 ). Consequently, demotivation, disengagement, and dropout rates increased among students ( Chiu et al, 2021 ; Donnelly & Patrinos, 2021 ).…”