Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Academic Community Results from a survey conducted at University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted academic life in the United States and beyond. To gain a better understanding of its impact on the academic community, we conducted a large-scale survey at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We collected multifaceted data from students, staff, and faculty on several aspects of their lives, such as mental and physical health, productivity, and finances. All our respondents expressed mental and physical issues and concerns, such as increased stress and depression levels. Financial difficulties seem to have the most considerable toll on staff and undergraduate students, while productivity challenges were mostly expressed by faculty and graduate students. As universities face many important decisions with respect to mitigating the effects of this pandemic, we present our findings with the intent of shedding light on the challenges faced by various academic groups in the face of the pandemic, calling attention to the differences between groups. We also contribute a discussion highlighting how the results translate to policies for the effective and timely support of the categories of respondents who need them most. Finally, the survey itself, which includes conditional logic allowing for personalized questions, serves as a template for further data collection, facilitating a comparison of the impact on campuses across the United States.

Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages

“…Early-career status was assigned to job positions of postdocs, assistant professors, and those who obtained their highest degree within the last four years [45]. These explanatory variables were chosen based on the previous literature [9,[28][29][30][31][32].…”

“…The total anxiety score was divided into normal (0-6), mild (7)(8)(9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), severe (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), and extremely severe (�20). The total stress score was divided in to normal (0-14), mild (15)(16)(17)(18), moderate (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), severe (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33), and extremely severe (�34).…”

“…Some recent studies found adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on researchers and faculty's mental health [29,31,32], showing higher frequency of mental health problems. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to examine the associations between standardized mental health scores and aspects of work and life being impacted by the COVID-19 for STEMM scholars.…”

“…The mental health effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and related distancing measures would affect the ability to focus on work and academic productivity as well. Recent studies found evidence of high frequencies of mental health problems among university students, faculty, and staff during the pandemic worldwide [9,[28][29][30][31][32][33]. These studies found that female gender, unemployment status, isolation from colleagues due to social distancing, poor supervision, and financial crisis were associated with adverse mental health status.…”

Estrés y su relación con el rendimiento de los universitarios en tiempos de COVID-19

“…Stressors Ayesta et al, 2020;Balakrishnan, 2020;Bali, et al, 2020;Beltrán-Velasco, et al, 2020;Cardozo, et al, 2020;Cénat, et al, 2021;Chandra, 2021;Cheema, et al, 2020;Chisholm-Burns et al, 2021;Cuadra-Martínez et al, 2020;Deznabi et al, 2021;Duffy et al, 2020;Džubur et al, 2020;Fitzgerald & Konrad 2021;Flowers & Bernard 2020;Goyal & Khaliq 2020;Nikaman, 2020;Hamaideh, et al, (2021) Madhusudan, et al, 2020;Balakrishnan, 2020;Mahdy, 2020;Cénat, et al, 2021;Cuadra-Martínez et al, 2020;Deznabi et al, 2021;Mansor et al, 2020;Duffy et al, 2020;Maqbool et al, 2020;Masood et al, 2020;Fitzgerald & Konrad 2021;Flowers & Bernard 2020;Mohd Nasir, & Mustapha, 2020;Mustafa, 2020;Oducado & Estoque, 2021, Nikaman, 2020Oyewobi et al, 2020;Pathrose & Ramaa 2020;Hamaideh, et al, (2021); Hosseinkhani, et al, 2020, Ramaswamy et al, 2021Ratanasiripong, et al, 2021;Krys, Otte, & Knipfer 2020;Sakitri...…”