Factors Affecting the Psychological Well-Being of Educators: A Study on Private College Lecturers Succeeding COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Teaching is a noble profession. Owing to pandemic crisis disruption, uncertainties, and higher work demands, educators were found to experience unusual anxiety, depression, and stress. Research studies revealed that the psychological well-being of educators influenced the teaching quality and well-being of students in academic performance. Hence, this study aimed to explore the subjective contributory factors that affect the psychological well-being of educators teaching in the higher education institution. The study applied a cross-sectional qualitative research design and utilised a purposive sampling method to select three participants from a private college in Kuching Sarawak to join the semi-structured interview in July 2022. The data collected via oneto-one interviews were transcribed and analysed via ATLAS.ti software by using a thematic approach. The finding revealed a total of twelve themes that determine the contributory factors to address the key research question, which were positive relationships, positive attitude, personal development, personal autonomy, conducive work environment, leadership support, religious and spiritual support, technology, work demand, training support, self-efficacy, and engagement. This finding also asserted that psychological well-being is a multidimensional construct and there is no sole determinant factor. Most importantly, this paper contributed to the existing literature about the psychological well-being of educators in higher education and provided a model for future psychological studies among educators.

A Systematic Review on Teachers’ Well-Being in the COVID-19 Era

“…Other elements associated with solid school organization reported in relevant studies to sustain and boost TWB levels within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic were: (i) the existence of an organized, supportive school environment as a critical job resource and enabler of TWB that impacts teachers' fulfillment of basic psychological needs for autonomy, ensures collaboration with colleagues and accomplishment in pandemic emergency remote teaching (ERT) by prescribing the principles for effective distance education teaching practices [104], and promotes teachers' creative teaching self-efficacy by enhancing their dispositional joy and general positive affect while reducing general negative affect [144]; (ii) empowering leadership that was found to be associated with lower levels of job stress and higher levels of job well-being and perceived organizational support [145], enabling preschool teachers to link their personal goals to organizational goals, motivate and guide them to better achieve their mission with organizational support, and thus achieve a high level of well-being; (iii) the allocation of low teacher workloads by the school administration, which was found to be positively associated with work satisfaction and work-related coherence, leading to enhanced TWB COVID-19 rates in [115]; (iv) the adoption of schoolbased TWB interventions within the COVID-19 era, as documented in three action-oriented studies in our sample, which were directed at the exploration of TWB improvement using peer support in digital settings [146], the implementation of in-service professional training TWB sessions aiming at reducing teachers' psychological distress [147], and emergent mindfulness and cognitive reframing TWB approaches with reported increased gains in teachers' resilience and psychological well-being in times of crisis [148]. Provision of training support in ERT-related issues and teachers' eagerness to seek religious and spiritual support to regain their well-being by overcoming the numerous pre-and post-pandemic challenges and difficulties were reported by [149], with self-reported spirituality being only indirectly associated with TWB enhancement and teachers' overall mental health in one study [127]. Quantitative data collection methodologies with the administration of self-reported online survey questionnaires were used in thirty-two of the reviewed studies (60.3%), which were mainly designed as descriptive, cross-sectional empirical research questionnaires to explore TWB lived experiences and status in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Grounded theory [113,122] was one of the two frameworks used for data interpretation purposes in two studies, 'enabling researchers to make systematic comparisons and engage the data and emerging theory actively throughout the research process' [150] (p. 374). Phenomenology, involving 'the study of the lifeworld as we immediately experience it, pre-reflectively' [151] (p. 614) availed researchers in Creely et al's [125] and Leong's [149] studies of the opportunity to explicate the ontological features of TWB experiences within COVID-19 contextual circumstances.…”

“…The key TWB positive facilitators were (i) teachers' personality characteristics and self-esteem as fully qualified professionals [99] capable of surviving the adversities posed by the COVID-19 virus in their everyday school routine by exhibiting obsessive work passion [140], increased teacher self-confidence [139], readiness to innovate within the novel ERT paradigm [109], intrinsic work motivation [130], maintaining a well-organized work schedule [128], and using effective coping and proactive physical self-care TWB strategies [134,142,146]. Aspects of school organization identified as being conducive to TWB in-crisis maintenance and enhancement were: the provision of support and encouragement for creative teaching self-efficacy with training in ERT practices [147]; the appropriate allocation of teacher workload [116]; a high sense of job satisfaction and work-related coherence and autonomy at work boosted by empowering leadership [148]; the promotion of high-quality relationships and collaboration with all stakeholders at school community level [135]; and the implementation of TWB in-service COVID-19 interventions [149][150][151].…”