Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Michelle Bennett

Abstract

Educators in North Carolina have been burdened with many different negative stressors, such as low pay, increasing class sizes, and violence in the classroom, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only added to the role of the educator. Current research suggests an inevitable exodus of teachers due to the increased stress brought by the pandemic. Through this mixed methods study, I sought to examine relationships between COVID-19 stress, physical and mental health symptoms, and occupational burnout. Using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, I determined statistical relationships between specific domains of COVID stress and the physical and mental health of North Carolina educators. There was also statistical significance between specific domains of COVID stress and the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization domains of occupational burnout. I also interviewed North Carolina educators about their experiences of teaching during the pandemic. This study offers concrete evidence of COVID stress correlating to negative physical and mental health symptoms and results suggest increased perceptions of burnout.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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