Assessment of stress-related psychosomatic symptoms in regular basic education teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were great changes in basic education, one of them being the migration of the teaching process to virtuality, which caused a lot of uncertainty and effort for teachers, since many of them were not prepared nor did they have the digital and didactic skills to provide education under this modality. By virtue of the foregoing, the present research aimed to assess the psychosomatic symptoms related to stress in Peruvian teachers of regular basic education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research approach was quantitative, the design was not experimental, and the type was descriptive - transectional. The sample was made up of 292 teachers to whom the Psychosomatic Problems Questionnaire was applied, an instrument with adequate levels of reliability and validity. According to the findings, teachers were characterized by presenting a moderate level of assessment of psychosomatic symptoms related to stress, the main ones being feelings of extreme exhaustion, the desire not to want to get up in the morning, and some nervousness tics or blinking and headaches. Finally, it was found that the assessment of stress-related symptoms was significantly associated with gender, age group, and teachers' employment status. It was concluded that the decentralized bodies of the Ministry of Education must identify and provide continuous socio-emotional support to teachers who require it to promote their emotional well-being and quality of life, thus reducing the prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms associated with stress and improving the condition. work in which they develop.