Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, The University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Front Public Health. 2022 Jun 27;10:879141. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.879141. eCollection 2022.
This cross-sectional study examined the self-perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2,378 education workers in Ontario, Canada, during the second wave.
We examined six domains of functioning as per the short version of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule-2.0. Participants selected if their functioning had improved, remained unchanged or worsened during the pandemic for each item.
Educational workers described a general worsening of functional activities since the beginning of the pandemic. Moderate-to-extreme challenges were reported for all six functional domains. These challenges appeared to aggravate functional challenges for workers with disability, as indicated by pre-existing work accommodations. Older participants reported worse mobility than younger participants; however, they appeared to have better coping skills in learning new tasks and maintaining friendships. Women were more likely to report difficulties in maintaining household responsibilities.
We consider the role of mental health challenges and pre-existing inequality as predictors of pandemic-related difficulties. Recommendations include more longitudinal research in this population and policymakers to incorporate a health promotion lens to support their education workers more proactively.
本横断面研究调查了在 COVID-19 大流行期间，加拿大安大略省 2378 名教育工作者在第二波疫情中的自我感知影响。
我们根据世界卫生组织残疾评估表-2.0 的简短版本，检查了六个功能领域。参与者选择在大流行期间，对于每个项目，他们的功能是改善、保持不变还是恶化。
教育工作者描述了自大流行开始以来，功能活动普遍恶化。所有六个功能领域都报告了中度至重度的挑战。这些挑战似乎加重了残疾工人的功能挑战，这表明已经有了工作上的适应措施。年长的参与者报告的行动能力比年轻的参与者差；然而，他们似乎在学习新任务和维持友谊方面有更好的应对技能。女性更有可能报告在维持家庭责任方面有困难。
我们认为心理健康挑战和先前存在的不平等是与大流行相关困难的预测因素。建议包括在这一人群中进行更多的纵向研究，并要求政策制定者从健康促进的角度来看待问题，以更积极地支持他们的教育工作者。
