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Madison, Wisconsin — This March marked the third anniversary of COVID-19 being first reported in Wisconsin, and the badger state was turned upside down.
Of course, most schools have switched to virtual formats to ensure student safety. But what effect did it have on school staff?
A new study led by Matt Hershberg, a scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reveals the effects on mental health.
The study, published Jan. 11 in Educational Researcher, claims to be one of the first studies to “provide estimates of stress, anxiety and depression among school workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.” .
Conducted from June to August 2020, the study surveyed 662 Wisconsin school system employees. This includes, but is not limited to, teachers, coaches and food service employees. Employees worked with all ages from preschool through her 12th grade.
The study investigated employee stress, anxiety, and depression. The survey also asked participants if they would continue in a role or change careers. These levels were used as baseline data.
Of those surveyed, 77.96% reported anxiety symptoms and 53.65% reported depressive symptoms.
“The degree of elevation in symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress that we have observed is certainly worrying,” said Simon UW Madison, a UW Madison professor of counseling psychology and a member of the research team behind the study. Goldberg said, “The good news is that there is a large body of evidence suggesting that a variety of psychological interventions can help reduce just these symptoms. Mindfulness and other forms of meditation can help It’s one of the approaches shown to reduce this kind of psychological distress.”
The study also found that people with the lowest family incomes reported having the most stress. They are also most likely to report clinically significant depressive symptoms and are most likely to want to change jobs.
In this study, school system employees who identified as female were significantly more likely to report depressive symptoms than their male colleagues. However, the overall proportion of school system employees reporting anxiety and depressive symptoms was higher than the proportion in the general population reported during the same period.
The researchers say the results of the study show not only higher wages as a way to address mental health issues in school personnel, but also staff mental health support.
“School systems are tasked with equitably restoring the learning of students lost to the pandemic, some of whom have greater mental health concerns,” Hirschberg said. “Psychologically healthy teachers and other school system employees are an integral part of any possible solution. It could be a prerequisite for our recovery efforts.”
Read the full survey, “Educators Are Not Okay: Mental Health During COVID-19” here.
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