Emotional State of Teachers and University Administrative Staff in the Return to Face-to-Face Mode

Abstract

Social distancing and security measures have contained the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the return to face-to-face activities is necessary for specific companies, and some higher education institutions have already done so. The various disorders that this new reality could generate have motivated the present study, which aims to analyze the emotional state of teachers and administrative staff. The instrument used was the abbreviated depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21), with an internal consistency index of 0.87. The methodology was based on applying a survey to 202 participants from Quito, Ecuador. The sample consisted of 97 men and 105 women aged between 23 and 59 years. A quantitative and cross-sectional design was used in this research. The results show that 40.1% of the respondents presented anxiety, 36.63% depression, and 38.61% stress between mild and highly severe categories. Additionally, when analyzing the depression, anxiety, and stress levels compared to productivity variables, we found that five disorders, i.e., fear, anxiety, over reactivity, skeletal muscle effects, and dysphoria, directly affect productivity variables, such as performing simple tasks, performing difficult tasks, the number of products made, and the number of products rejected. Thus, returning to face-to-face mode has affected the emotional state of many people, showing differences according to the job position, with anxiety being the highest self-identified incidence rate.