Students and Staff in Lockdown: Mental and Social Health in the Austrian Tertiary Education Sector

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to high demands on the educational sector. For tertiary education, investigations mostly focused on the effects of digital teaching. However, little is known regarding health effects. Moreover, the emphasis was mainly on students, not university staff members. An international online questionnaire consisting of quantitative and qualitative items (from the LockedDown project) was translated into German and used in Austria from June to November 2020. This study reports on social and psychological health plus the perceived benefits of the pandemic. A total of 1175 students and 716 staff members participated. While staff members reported higher stress levels at the beginning of the pandemic, they were more pronounced for students from Week 5 onwards (Chi2 < 0.001). Quality of Life (QoL) decreased more in the student population, and depression/anxiety was higher and rose compared to staff. Moreover, students reported fewer benefits of the pandemic. Students perceived the burden of the pandemic later than staff members who needed to adapt their work processes immediately. Mental health interventions in a pandemic seem to be needed at different points in time depending on the target group.