Fear of COVID-19 in primary school teachers: A survey study in Serbia

Abstract

The advent of COVID-19 worldwide has led to consequences for people’s health, both physical and psychological, such as fear and anxiety. Following their important role in the fast adjustment of the education system, teachers are seen as a possible vulnerable category for enhanced negative consequences of this crisis. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify the level of fear of COVID-19 in teachers working in primary schools in Serbia and to determine whether there are any differences in fear levels according to gender, age, and working category. A total of 817 teachers (15.2% male) from public primary schools in Serbia, age from 23 to 64 (M = 45.56, SD = 9.35), took part in the study via an online survey from February to April 2021. From the sample, 34.4% teachers teach in the first education cycle and 65.6% in the second. Teachers were contacted through email addresses of schools, including the invitation letter with information about the study, and the link to the online questionnaire. All the participants completed the survey anonymously and gave their informed online consent. Data on fear of COVID-19 were collected using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). The instrument consists of seven items, and the internal reliability of the scale was good, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .84. The mean global FCV-19S score was 16.00 ± 6.06. Female teachers (M = 17.15, SD = 6.21) express slight, but statistically significant higher levels of fear (t(795) = 2.98, p < .01, g = 0.29) than their male colleagues (M = 14.50, SD = 5.96). Teachers of the first education cycle (M = 16.25, SD = 6.02) express similar statistically significant higher levels of fear (t(788) = 3.95, p < .001, g = 0.29) than those of the second cycle (M = 15.38, SD = 5.96). Results show that age and FCV score correlate slightly positive (r = .13, p < .001). Emotional and physical responses were compared regarding these sociodemographic variables. Results show that the same differences are present in both emotional and physical response to fear of COVID-19: female teachers, teachers of the first education cycle and older teachers express slight, but statistically significant higher levels of both emotional and physical fear. Collected data can serve as a base-line for future exploration of vulnerable groups of teachers.