Study on the physical and emotional health of academic faculties during the COVID-19 epidemic and online education

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health (MH) of university instructors and staff involved in online teaching (OT), a group that has received limited attention in existing research. The focuses on academics who instructed overtime through the pandemic, highlighting the factors that contributed to their mental health decline. A total of 580-university faculty completed the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) both before and during the pandemic. The examined several factors, including the workload involved in preparing virtual classes, challenges with information technology (IT) in OT, and the university’s online education (OE) system, in addition to student satisfaction. Results indicated a significant decrease in WHO-5 scores during the pandemic, with 47.3% of faculty reporting mental health issues. Two important risk variables for poor mental health were identified using binomial logistic regression analysis.: difficulties using IT for OT and dissatisfaction with executive support in the OE system. Interestingly, workload factors—such as the number of online courses taught or time spent on research—did not significantly forecast that mental health will deteriorate throughout the epidemic. These findings suggest that the stress caused by IT difficulties and inadequate support systems played a more critical role in the mental health struggles of faculty members than workload alone. The emphasizes the importance of strengthening workplace support to better address the mental health needs of faculty involved in online teaching. Improving IT assistance and providing better executive support in online education systems are crucial steps in mitigating mental health issues among university instructors during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.