Evaluation of teachers’ generalized anxiety disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 as a new coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, in December 2019. The disease has become a global health emergency with high speed and transmission. It risks public health and imposes high pressures on the government and providers of medical services and also, it may lead to several forms of psychological distress, including anxiety, fear, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder. It is important to maintain public mental health, especially teachers, as they interact with their students and affect their education. This study aimed to investigates teachers’ generalized anxiety disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The population of the study was all teachers of elementary, middle and secondary school in Iran which 407 teachers were selected with use of virtual snowball sampling. An online survey was conducted that consisted of two anonymous questionnaires: one was designed to collect participants’ personal information (sex, age, geographical position of residence, area of residence, teaching in elementary/ middle /secondary school, life with the family, family income stability, family infection to COVID-19, friend infection to COVID-19, underlying disease, family underlying disease, ease of internet access, acquaintance with: SHAD, teaching method in cyberspace, the preparation of electronic content, follow up the negative news, awareness of the curriculum future & using social and mental support); the other was the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale(GAD-7), which assess participants’ generalized anxiety referring to the pandemic. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 and univariate analysis (Nonparametric) to test whether differences in demographic characteristics effected on experiencing GAD; and multiple linear regression analysis (enter) was conducted to identify the impact factors for GAD.

GAD prevalence among the teachers 3 month after the COVID-19 pandemic was 9.6%. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that teaching in elementary/middle/secondary school (p < 0.00, β=-0.14), family infection to COVID-19 (p < 0.02, β=-0.12), acquaintance with the preparation of electronic content (p < 0.01, β=-0.12), follow up the negative news (p < 0.00, β=0.17) & awareness of the curriculum future (p < 0.00, β=-0.23) could be regarded as predictor factors for GAD among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results indicate that some teachers showed GAD during the COVID-19 pandemic and underscore the importance of attention to the mental health condition of teachers and measures to reduce anxiety factors during the pandemic by the education system. In order to better understand pandemic effects on mental health of teachers, in the field of coping strategies & education system approach to reduce negative educational & psychological effects is needed further research.