Academic Staff Wellness during COVID-19 Addressed During Webinar

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Following her laudable community engagement endeavours, Professor Vannie Naidoo of UKZN’s School of Management, Information Technology and Governance was invited by the Director of CECEU, Professor Saad Znad Darwish of the Kingdom University in Bahrain, to facilitate a webinar on Academic Staff Wellness During COVID-19.

Naidoo said during the webinar that the issue of academic wellness was very important to university leadership because of the impact of COVID-19 on academics worldwide. ‘University leadership needs to do more to support academic staff who have faced challenges and major emotional hurdles during the pandemic. The new normal forced staff to live in constant fear and anxiety as they watched loved ones, family members, colleagues, students and friends succumb or get infected.’

She said the constant fear of ‘not knowing when you would get infected’ or ‘if you would survive this pandemic, led to academic staff experiencing undue stress and anxiety causing huge problems for them in terms of their personal wellbeing. Problems and issues suffered by staff included burnout, anxiety, panic attacks, severe mood swings, manic depression, survivor guilt and post-traumatic stress.

Naidoo said university management and academic leadership should ensure the following to assist with the wellbeing of staff:

•    New leave policies

•    Emotional, professional and life coaching

•    Professional psychologists, psychiatrists and counsellors available via helplines to serve as mental health support for University staff

•    Motivational speakers to address wellness issues

•    Online learning for staff

•    Promotion of awareness about hygiene, health and safety measures during the pandemic

* Naidoo is a full-time staff member in the College of Law and Management Studies at UKZN. Her area of teaching is in management, corporate strategy, project management, entrepreneurship, research methodology and marketing.

Words: Lungile Ngubelanga

Photograph: Supplied