How Presenteeism Shaped Teacher Burnout in Cyberbullying Among Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV2 has had an impact on the education sector, and its stakeholders, such as teachers who had to do remote work from their home, despite many constraints. These professionals tried to perform their teaching functions, despite having to deal with adverse situations, such as cyberbullying among their students, as well as their difficulties related to presenteeism and burnout. In this context, this study aimed to understand whether observing cyberbullying among students can be associated with teachers’ productivity loss due to presenteeism and burnout. This study also proposed to examine the role of productivity loss due to presenteeism in the relationship between observing cyberbullying situations among students and teacher burnout. A random sample of 1,044 (Mage=51.05, SD=7.35; 76.6% female) middle school and high school teachers answered an inventory about their experience working at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically with regards to cyberbullying incidents they observed among their students, their productivity loss due to presenteeism, and their burnout levels. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that observing students engaging in cyberbullying situations was positively associated with productivity loss due to presenteeism and teacher burnout. Also, teacher’s productivity loss due to presenteeism mediated the relationship between observing cyberbullying incidents among their students and their burnout levels. Specifically, the effect of productivity loss due to presenteeism explained the effect of observing cyberbullying incidents on teachers’ burnout levels. These results are innovative and shed light on the importance of teacher wellbeing at their job in the midst of a pandemic, namely, when they observe their students engaging in hostile situations, which may lead them to greater levels of burnout.

Characteristics of K‐12 Teachers Considering Leaving Due to COVID‐19 and for Other Reasons

“…Numerous studies have documented the negative impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on teachers' wellbeing 16,24,25 . Our study corroborates and extends this research by demonstrating a similar pattern of self‐described poor mental health among a large sample of K‐12 teachers, and by demonstrating the association between poor mental health and considering leaving the teaching profession.…”

“…Numerous studies have documented the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers' wellbeing. 16,24,25 Our study corroborates and extends this research by demonstrating a similar pattern of selfdescribed poor mental health among a large sample of K-12 teachers, and by demonstrating the association between poor mental health and considering leaving the teaching profession. Given the association between work-related stress and teacher attrition, 14 we hypothesize that work-related stress during the COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously led to poor mental health and greater attrition.…”

Presenteeism and mental health of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

“…Four studies had been conducted in Japan ( 31–34 ) and 4 in United Kingdom ( 35–38 ), 3 in United States ( 39–41 ), 2 in China ( 42 , 43 ), Germany ( 44 , 45 ), and the Republic of Korea ( 46 , 47 ), and 1 in Sweden ( 16 ), Wales ( 48 ), Canada ( 22 ), Turkey ( 49 ), Lithuania ( 50 ), Portugal ( 51 ), Australia and New Zealand ( 52 ), and Belgium and the Netherlands ( 53 ). In 14 of the 25 selected articles, collection took place in 2020; 6 of the 25 were collected in 2021; and the remaining 5 were collected over months in both 2020 and 2021.…”

“…It was found that between 70.6% ( 43 ) and 26% ( 38 ) of the subjects in the included studies showed sickness presenteeism. In addition, a number of factors may have also favoured presenteeism or sickness presenteeism, such as mental health-related factors [burnout ( 34 , 45 , 49 , 51 ), stress ( 33–35 , 38 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 49 ), depression ( 46 ), fear of COVID-19 ( 49 ), no well-being ( 16 , 40 ), cyberbullying ( 51 ), sleep disturbance ( 34 ), concern about having enough food ( 41 ), social isolation ( 38 ), and no resilience ( 38 )]; individual factors [poor marital relationship ( 31 ), health status ( 42 ), being young ( 38 ), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms ( 32 ), workers who experienced interrupted medical care ( 33 , 40 ), low physical activity ( 38 , 50 ), sedentary behaviours ( 52 ), having children ( 41 ), having health insurance ( 41 ), and having a chronic illness ( 38 )]; factors related to the situation caused by COVID-19 [confinement ( 45 ), having symptoms of respiratory infectious disease ( 48 ), not volunteering to work on the frontline ( 47 ), impact on business operations, loss of contract, and risk of bankruptcy ( 16 )]; and factors arising from working conditions [perceived organisational support ( 49 ), direct patient care ( 39 ), work functioning or task performance impairment ( 31 , 42 , 43 , 53 ), work fatigue ( 34 , 43 ), safety climate ( 22 ), workload ( 22 ), having no one to replace them ( 48 ), geographical distribution ( 48 ), transition from in-person to online modes of working ( …”

Presenteeism İyi Midir Kötü Müdür? Okullarda Fenomenolojik Bir Çalışma

“…In this context, determining the relationship of presenteeism with social, cultural, and individual variables and revealing the results of this experience will contribute to the literature. In particular, it can be said that some cultural codes (e.g., the perception of work as worship, the sanctity attributed to services such as education, and the dominance of social control mechanisms) will help to understand the sociological and psychological elements underlying the presenteeism experience (Cooper & Lu, 2016;Ferreira et al, 2021). For this purpose, the phenomenon of presenteeism is examined according to the participants' perceptions, using a phenomenological design to analyse the phenomenological interviews, memoing, and messages received from the participants after the interviews.…”