Impact of COVID-19 on access to laboratories and human participants: exercise science faculty perspectives

Abstract

Restrictions due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted the ability of faculty and students in exercise science to work in lab settings with human participants. The purpose of this study was to determine how exercise science faculty were impacted by COVID-19 restrictions with respect to access and use of exercise science lab and research facilities. Of the 100 surveyed participants categorized as requiring access to people and lab spaces (lab-based faculty), 61% ( n = 61) reported decreased research productivity with 87% ( n = 53) of those faculty in one or more of the following subdisciplines: exercise physiology, clinical exercise physiology, or biomechanics. Of all lab-based faculty, 40% ( n = 40) participants reported having access to students and lab spaces and 55% ( n = 55) indicated they were allowed to conduct in-person research. Of tenure-track lab-based faculty, 80% ( n = 20) reported a decrease in research productivity, of which 60.0% ( n = 12) identified as female. Among faculty with 5 or less years of teaching experience ( n = 23), 69.6% ( n = 16) reported a decrease in productivity, with 68.8% ( n = 11) of those being female. All exercise science faculty surveyed reported issues with safety and social distancing, modified lab and research procedures, faculty workload, and research productivity. This information can be leveraged to create better infrastructure to support faculty and develop and implement strategies to reduce workload inequities.