Concern about COVID-19 infection in Peruvian teachers when returning to face-to-face education

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the concern about COVID-19 infection in Peruvian teachers of regular basic education when returning to face-to-face education.

Materials and methods: The research approach was quantitative; the design was non-experimental and the descriptive type transectional. The sample was made up of 225 teachers from the initial, primary, and secondary education levels to whom the COVID-19 Infection Concern Scale was applied, an instrument with adequate levels of validity and reliability. Subsequently, the responses were systematized and analyzed using SPSS® version 25 software.

Results: It was identified that 39.6% of the teachers presented moderate levels of concern about COVID-19 infection, 34.7% had low levels and 25.7% showed high levels. Among the main concerns, they highlighted considering that in educational institutions there were some risks, such as the presence of students and parents who do not use masks correctly and do not wash their hands properly, which generated concern and fear of infecting them. COVID-19 after leaving work to their relatives or people with whom they lived. Likewise, it was determined that some sociodemographic and medical variables were significantly associated (p<0.05) with said concern.

Conclusions: It was determined that teachers characterized themselves as presenting moderate levels of concern about COVID-19 infection and it was established that female teachers, who were over 40 years old, who were not vaccinated, who had comorbidities and had previously been infected with COVID-19 had slightly higher levels than the other contrast groups.