Cargando…

Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for working conditions for scientists, but little is known for how the associations of these challenges with scientists’ mental health and productivity differ by sex and status as a parent. This online survey study in six languages collected...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Heo, Seulkee, Peralta, Pedro Diaz, Jin, Lan, Pereira Nunes, Claudia Ribeiro, Bell, Michelle L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9249185/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35776710
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269834
_version_ 1784739521443659776
author Heo, Seulkee
Peralta, Pedro Diaz
Jin, Lan
Pereira Nunes, Claudia Ribeiro
Bell, Michelle L.
author_facet Heo, Seulkee
Peralta, Pedro Diaz
Jin, Lan
Pereira Nunes, Claudia Ribeiro
Bell, Michelle L.
author_sort Heo, Seulkee
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for working conditions for scientists, but little is known for how the associations of these challenges with scientists’ mental health and productivity differ by sex and status as a parent. This online survey study in six languages collected data from 4,494 scientists in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine fields across 132 countries during October–December 2021. We compared the type of challenges for work, changes in work hours, and perception in productivity during the pandemic by sex and status as a parent (children <18 years living at home). Regression analyses analyzed the impacts of changed working conditions and work-life factors on productivity and mental health. We found that the percentage of participants with increased work hours was the highest in female participants, especially without children. Disproportionately higher increases in work hours were found for teaching and administration in women than men and for research/fundraising in non-parent participants than parent participants (p-value<0.001). Female participants were more concerned about the negative impacts of the pandemic on publications and long-term career progress, and less satisfied with their career progress than their male counterparts. There were differences in the type of institutional actions for the pandemic across study regions. The identified obstacles for work and home-life factors were associated with higher risks of experiencing depression, anxiety, and stress. Decision makers should consider the gender differences in the pandemic’s adverse impacts on productivity in establishing equitable actions for career progress for scientists during pandemics.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9249185
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-92491852022-07-02 Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages Heo, Seulkee Peralta, Pedro Diaz Jin, Lan Pereira Nunes, Claudia Ribeiro Bell, Michelle L. PLoS One Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for working conditions for scientists, but little is known for how the associations of these challenges with scientists’ mental health and productivity differ by sex and status as a parent. This online survey study in six languages collected data from 4,494 scientists in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine fields across 132 countries during October–December 2021. We compared the type of challenges for work, changes in work hours, and perception in productivity during the pandemic by sex and status as a parent (children <18 years living at home). Regression analyses analyzed the impacts of changed working conditions and work-life factors on productivity and mental health. We found that the percentage of participants with increased work hours was the highest in female participants, especially without children. Disproportionately higher increases in work hours were found for teaching and administration in women than men and for research/fundraising in non-parent participants than parent participants (p-value<0.001). Female participants were more concerned about the negative impacts of the pandemic on publications and long-term career progress, and less satisfied with their career progress than their male counterparts. There were differences in the type of institutional actions for the pandemic across study regions. The identified obstacles for work and home-life factors were associated with higher risks of experiencing depression, anxiety, and stress. Decision makers should consider the gender differences in the pandemic’s adverse impacts on productivity in establishing equitable actions for career progress for scientists during pandemics. Public Library of Science 2022-07-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9249185/ /pubmed/35776710 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269834 Text en © 2022 Heo et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Heo, Seulkee
Peralta, Pedro Diaz
Jin, Lan
Pereira Nunes, Claudia Ribeiro
Bell, Michelle L.
Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages
title Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages
title_full Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages
title_fullStr Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages
title_full_unstemmed Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages
title_short Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages
title_sort differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the stemm-field scientists during the covid-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: a survey in six languages
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9249185/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35776710
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269834
work_keys_str_mv AT heoseulkee differencesinselfperceptionofproductivityandmentalhealthamongthestemmfieldscientistsduringthecovid19pandemicbysexandstatusasaparentasurveyinsixlanguages
AT peraltapedrodiaz differencesinselfperceptionofproductivityandmentalhealthamongthestemmfieldscientistsduringthecovid19pandemicbysexandstatusasaparentasurveyinsixlanguages
AT jinlan differencesinselfperceptionofproductivityandmentalhealthamongthestemmfieldscientistsduringthecovid19pandemicbysexandstatusasaparentasurveyinsixlanguages
AT pereiranunesclaudiaribeiro differencesinselfperceptionofproductivityandmentalhealthamongthestemmfieldscientistsduringthecovid19pandemicbysexandstatusasaparentasurveyinsixlanguages
AT bellmichellel differencesinselfperceptionofproductivityandmentalhealthamongthestemmfieldscientistsduringthecovid19pandemicbysexandstatusasaparentasurveyinsixlanguages