Prevalence of anxiety, depression, and stress among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Systematic review

Objective

Identifying the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and stress among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Systematic review of original studies published in any language. Protocol published in PROSPERO under number CRD42021240543. The search was carried out in the Web of Science, PsycINFO, Pubmed, Embase, LILACS, and SciELO databases, using the descriptors: anxiety, depression, stress, teacher, faculty, COVID-19, and their synonyms. Narrative synthesis was carried out in line with the synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) in systematic reviews.

Results

Of the 1,372 records identified, six studies, all cross-sectional, were included in the review. The studies were carried out in China, Brazil, the United States of America, India, and Spain. Five studies included more women than men. The participants were aged from 24 to 60 years. Three studies included only school teachers, two included schools and universities teachers, and one only university teachers. Of the five studies, all dealt with remote activities and only one included teachers who returned to face-to-face classes one to two weeks ago. The prevalence of anxiety ranged from 10% to 49.4%, and depression from 15.9% to 28.9%, being considerably higher in studies with teachers who worked in schools. The prevalence of stress ranged from 12.6% to 50.6%.

Conclusions

The prevalence of anxiety, depression, and stress was high among teachers during the pandemic, with great variation between studies. Anxiety and stress were more prevalent in the Spanish study. The results show the need for measures for the care of teachers’ mental health, especially when returning to face-to-face classes.

What is already known about this subject?

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  With remote classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were changes in the professional practice of teachers.

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  Sudden changes in professional practice can result in increased levels of anxiety, depression, and stress.

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  Returning to face-to-face classes can also result in increased levels of anxiety, depression, and stress.

What are the new findings?

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  The prevalence of anxiety ranged from 10% to 49.4%, with higher rates recorded in female teachers, with comorbidities and working in schools.

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  The prevalence of depression ranged from 15.9% to 28.9%, with higher rates identified in school teachers.

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  The prevalence of stress varied from 12.6% to 50.6%, with higher rates observed among female teachers and those with chronic diseases.

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  The only study that performed data collection during the return to face-to-face classes registered a higher prevalence of anxiety and stress than the other studies, in which the research was carried out during remote classes.

How might this impact policy or clinical practice in the foreseeable future?

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  Better training of teachers to handle the remote education model can contribute to preventing work overload and mental problems. Further, pedagogical and psychological support, especially for those who work in schools, can also prove effective.

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  The return to face-to-face classes can increase stress and anxiety. Ensuring bio-safety protocols for safe return to face-to-face activities, can contribute to mitigating anxiety and stress about the risk of contracting the disease.

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  There is insufficient evidence to determine a cause and effect relationship of the COVID-19 pandemic with anxiety, depression, and stress among teachers. Prospective cohort studies with control of confounding factors are necessary to infer that the pandemic has increased mental health problems in these professionals.