Remote Working and Home Learning: How the Italian Academic Population Dealt with Changes Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced changes in people’s lives that affected their mental health. Our study aimed to explore the level of psychological distress in the academic population during the lockdown period and investigate its association with the new working or studying conditions. The study sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2022-07, Vol.14 (13), p.8161
Main Authors: Macciotta, Alessandra, Farinella, Domenica, Dell’Aversana, Giuseppina, Fornili, Marco, Petri, Davide, Baglietto, Laura, Baccini, Michela, Berrocal Montiel, Carmen, Fiorentino, Giuseppe, Severi, Gianluca, Ricceri, Fulvio, Campolo, Maria Gabriella, Bruno, Andreina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Anxiety
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Distance learning
Employees
Empowerment
Females
Human health and pathology
Life Sciences
Management by objectives
Mental depression
Mental health
Pandemics
Perceptions
Population
Psychiatrics and mental health
Psychological stress
Regression analysis
Santé publique et épidémiologie
Students
Sustainability
Teaching
Telecommuting
Workers
Working conditions
Workloads
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic introduced changes in people’s lives that affected their mental health. Our study aimed to explore the level of psychological distress in the academic population during the lockdown period and investigate its association with the new working or studying conditions. The study sample included 9364 students and 2159 employees from five Italian universities from the study IO CONTO 2020. We applied linear regression models to investigate the association between home learning or remote working conditions and psychological distress, separately for students and employees. Psychological distress was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). In both students and employees, higher levels of distress were significantly associated with study/work–family conflicts, concerns about their future careers, and inadequacy of equipment; in employees, higher levels of distress were significantly associated with a lack of clarity on work objectives. Our results are in line with previous research on the impact of spaces and equipment in remote working/studying from home. Moreover, the study contributes to deepening the association between well-being and telework–family conflict, which in the literature is still equivocal. Practical implications require academic governance to promote sustainable environments both in remote and hybrid work conditions, by referring to a specific management by objectives approach.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14138161