A saúde mental dos docentes universitários na pandemia da Covid-19: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the abrupt transition to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) reconfigured educational dynamics, severely impacting the routine of university professors. Faced with labor precariousness and social isolation, this study aimed to analyze, based on scientific literature, the impacts of the health crisis on the mental health of these professionals, identifying triggering factors, associated disorders, and coping strategies. This is an integrative literature review, outlined using the PICo strategy. Searches were conducted in the CAPES Periodicals and LILACS/BVS databases, using Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS). After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, a final sample of 25 articles published between 2020 and 2023 was obtained. The synthesis of the results showed that the precariousness of digital teaching—characterized by the transfer of structural costs to professors, hyperconnectivity, technophobia, and distance in the professor-student relationship—generated profound professional derealization. Psychological suffering manifested predominantly through acute stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and sleep disorders. It is noteworthy that the female population was the most severely affected, since the imposition of a double shift, adding telework to maternal and domestic demands, intensified exhaustion (Burnout). To mitigate illness, the studies point to the use of coping strategies focused on religiosity/spirituality and the practice of physical exercises. It is concluded that the pandemic significantly deteriorated the psychological health of the category, highlighting the urgency of institutional support policies, such as free psychological support and the promotion of spaces for dialogue in the daily life of universities.