Changes in psychological distress among Polish medical university teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Our study aims to update knowledge about psychological distress and its changes in the Polish group of academic medical teachers after two years of a global pandemic. During the coronavirus disease, teachers were challenged to rapidly transition into remote teaching and adapt new assessment and evaluation systems for students, which might have been a completely novel situation that was not addressed before, especially in medical universities in Poland. We conducted a cross-sectional study at Poznan University of Medical Sciences from March to April 2022. The questionnaire included self-reported information on anxiety, stress, and depression. We found that post-pandemic levels of anxiety, stress, and depression have significantly (p<0.001) improved compared to initial levels at the beginning of coronavirus disease. In multivariate models, females had higher odds of improving levels of anxiety (OR  =  0.46; 95% CI  =  -1.58–(-0.03); p  =  0.04), stress (OR  =  0.36; 95% CI  =  -1.83–(-0.22); p  =  0.01), and depression (OR  =  0.0.37; 95% CI  =  -1.58–(-0.12); p  =  0.03). Anxiety, stress, or depression were not significantly associated with years of experience, the number of taught subjects, and weekly teaching hours, but only with the academic work during COVID-19 (Spearman ranxiety = 0.37, rstress = 0.32, rdepression = 0.37, p<0.001). For the virtual learning concerns, 79% of teachers reported that students might engage less; and it was correlated with higher weekly teaching hours (r = 0.19, p<0.05). Even though only 29.8% reported cheating as a concern, it was correlated with a higher number of taught subjects (r = 0.2, p<0.05). Levels of anxiety, stress, and depression have improved as time passed, not affecting teachers’ academic performance. Concerns about virtual learning have been raised, suggesting it may be conjoined with classroom learning but not as an alternative. Universities should highlight the importance of seeking psychological support and provide essential programs to employees. Teachers’ coping skills with psychological distress should be further studied.