Psychological distress among teaching staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: A transdiagnostic perspective on profiles of risk and resilience

Dana Lassri

doi:10.1016/j.tate.2023.104143

Psychological distress among teaching staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: A transdiagnostic perspective on profiles of risk and resilience

Teach Teach Educ. 2023 Jul:128:104143. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2023.104143. Epub 2023 Apr 7.

Author

Dana Lassri^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
² Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL (University College London), UK.

Abstract

Teaching staff are especially vulnerable to COVID-19-related stress, due to the significant demands they have experienced. Yet, many have shown resilience-good mental health despite stress exposure. The current study used a person-centered approach to identify distinct profiles according to individual differences in psychosocial risk and protective factors. Latent Profile Analysis and ANOVAs were employed among 350 Israeli teaching staff during the fourth wave of COVID-19. Two distinct profiles, "risk" (55%) and "resilience" (45%) were identified. While groups showed no differences in COVID-19-related stress outcomes, they consistently differed in their psychological reaction to COVID-19 (psychopathology, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction).

Keywords: COVID-19; Compassion fatigue; Latent profiles; Psychopathology; Resilience; Teaching staff.