AN EVALUATION OF COVID-19 RELATED BURNOUT AMONG ACADEMICS IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study evaluated COVID-19 related burnout among academics in universities in South-South, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised academic staff from public universities in South- South, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 300 academic staff from three federal and two state owned universities. Three research questions and two hypotheses were used to guide the study. An instrument titled: “Academic Burnout Inventory” (ABI) developed by the researcher was used for the study. Face and content validity was determined by three experts in educational measurement and evaluation. The pilot test involved 50 academics who were not participants in the study. The reliability of the instrument was determined based on test- retest method and a reliability coefficient of 0.71 was obtained. Descriptive statistics was used to answer the research questions while independent sample t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha. Result revealed that COVID-19-related burnout among academics was predominantly driven by systemic challenges, including meeting deadlines for student graduation, lack of remuneration for virtual teaching, and infrastructural deficits such as power outages and poor internet connectivity. Personal factors, like anxiety due to overcrowded home spaces, had minimal impact. No significant differences in burnout levels were found based on gender or professional rank, although nuances in experiences were observed. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions addressing workload management, infrastructure development, and mental health support to mitigate burnout and enhance academic productivity.