Schoolteachers' well-being: A pilot study from the AVATAR project during COVID-19 school closure.

BACKGROUND: Teachers are a category at high risk for co-occurring mental diseases. OBJECTIVES: The purpose was to assess well-being of schoolteachers and psychological effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHOD: Data were collected in April 2021, during the partial re-opening of public schools in Italy, from 838 schoolteachers who complete a battery of psychological tests on a multimedia platform. RESULTS: In females, school closure increases anxiety (BAI, p < 0.001), depression (BDI-II, p < 0.05), stress-related insomnia (FIRST, p < 0.001), and perceived stress (PSS, p < 0.05). In males, on the contrary, rises perceived health (p < 0.001) and vitality (p < 0.001), also in terms of total score (PWBI p < 0.05). In addition, having a family member with COVID in the past month increased anxiety (BAI, p < 0.05), reduced perceived physical health (PWBI, p < 0.05) and vitality (PWBI, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The main results of this pilot study showed that female teachers had a worse well-being perception with respect to men, in terms of health and vitality and an increase in negative emotional reactivity, that impaired when a family member was affected by COVID. The results emphasize the need to invest in prevention and wellness promotion programs in this professional category.

Well-Being Perception during COVID-19 Pandemic in Healthy Adolescents: From the Avatar Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an extraordinary and naturalistic context to observe young people's psychosocial profiles and to study how a condition of environmental deprivation and lack of direct social contact, affects the well-being and health status of adolescents. The study explored whether the COVID-19 outbreak changes, in the short term, the acute well-being perception in adolescents, as measured by a Personalized Well-Being Index (PWBI) and the four components affecting health (i.e., lifestyle habits, social context, emotional status, mental skills), in a sample of early adolescent students. Data from 10 schools were collected on 1019 adolescents (males 48.3%, mean age 12.53 ± 1.25 y). Measurements were obtained at two time points, in September/October 2019, (baseline condition, BC) as part of the "A new purpose for promotion and eVAluation of healTh and well-being Among healthy teenageRs" (AVATAR) project and during the Italian Lockdown Phase (mid-late April 2020, LP), with the same students using an online questionnaire. During COVID-19 quarantine, adolescents showed a lower PWBI (p < 0.001) as compared to the BC. Considering the four health-related well-being components, lifestyle habits (p < 0.001), social context (p < 0.001), and emotional status (p < 0.001), showed significantly lower values during LP than BC. However, mental skills, in LP, displayed a significant increase as compared to BC (p < 0.001). In this study, we have provided data on the personalized well-being index and the different components affecting health in adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown, showing a general decrease in well-being perception, expressed in lifestyle habits, social, and emotional components, demonstrating detrimental effects in the first phase of quarantine on adolescents' psychosocial profiles. Our results shed new light on adolescence as a crucial period of risk behavior, especially when social support is lacking.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Italian Adolescents During Covid-19 Outbreak.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak represented an experience of social isolation potentially leading to changes in the health quality of life. The aim of this study is to investigate the health-related quality of life during quarantine in early adolescents. Data were collected from 1,289 adolescents (mean age, 12.5; male, 622), at the beginning of the school year (September 2019, Standard Condition, SC) as part of the AVATAR project and during Phase 1 of the Italian lockdown (mid-late April 2020) (COVID-19 Quarantine, CQ) using an online questionnaire. In the CQ period, with respect to SC, adolescents showed lower perception in the dimensions, such as psychological (p = 0.001), physical well-being (p = 0.001), mood/emotion (p = 0.008), autonomy (p = 0.001), and financial resources (p = 0.018). Relationship with the family (p = 0.021) and peers (p = 0.001), as well as the perception of bullying (p = 0.001) were reduced. In lifestyle, adolescents developed higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (p = 0.001). Adolescents living in the village had greater reduction in both autonomy (p = 0.002) and peer relationships (p = 0.002). Moreover, the perception of physical well-being was lower in those living in the city instead of those living in the countryside (p = 0.03), in an apartment instead of a detached house (p = 0.002), and in those who did not have green space (p = 0.001). Gender effect emerged for the psychological (p = 0.007) and physical well-being (p = 0.001), mood/emotion (p = 0.001), and self-perception (p = 0.001). The study showed that health-related quality of life during quarantine changed in its psychosocial dimensions, from mood and self-esteem to social relationships, helping to define the educational policies at multiple points in the promotion process of health.