Women more affected than men, while some see opportunities in the pandemic
More than half of Greek researchers surveyed reported experiencing mental strain due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a study that garnered more than 2,000 responses has found.
Eva Sachini, director of Greece’s EKT National Documentation Centre, and her colleagues reported in the journal Science and Public Policy that 53 per cent of respondents reported a high level of personal psychological strain due to pandemic restrictions.
Only 5 per cent of respondents said they had felt no personal mental strain. “Covid-19 affected significantly the psychological state of the researchers,” Sachini and colleagues wrote in their paper published on 6 April.
Female researchers reported higher levels of strain than their male counterparts.
But the study found a silver lining: 60 per cent of the researchers surveyed viewed the pandemic as an opportunity. They gave benefits such as increased digital collaboration and more chances to learn new skills.