The effect of home-based exercise on anxiety and mental well-being levels of teachers and pre-service teachers in COVID-19 pandemic

Ferhat Çifçi and Abdurrahman Demir

African Educational Research Journal
Published: October 22 2020
Volume 8, Special Issue 2
Pages S20-S28
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30918/AERJ.8S2.20.029

Abstract

This study aims to examine the anxiety and mental well-being of teachers and pre-service teachers who engage in and do not engage in home-based exercise in the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of gender, marital status, age, and frequency of weekly exercise. The research sample consisted of 663 participants (X_age = 37.05 ± 9.87), including 460 wome (X_age = 37.39 ± 9.57) and 203 men (X_age = 36.28 ± 10.49). The data were collected using the “Status Anxiety inventory (STAI-I)” and the “Mental Well-Being Scale”. As a result of the study, a significant difference was observed between the anxiety and well-being scores of the participants who exercised and did not exercise in the COVID 19 pandemic, respectively. The anxiety scores of male participants who did exercise were found to be higher than female participants. There was no significant difference between the anxiety and well-being scores in terms of frequency of weekly exercise of the participants who did exercise. In terms of marital status variable, no significant difference was found between anxiety and well-being scores. In the study, the anxiety and well-being scores of the participants who did not exercise were examined in terms of gender, and a significant difference was found between the anxiety and well-being scores. As a result, the anxiety and well-being of the participants who regularly did exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic were better than those who did not exercise, the anxiety levels of female participants who did exercise were higher than the male participants, the anxiety levels of female participants who did not exercise were higher than men, and the well-being levels also turned out to be lower.

Keywords: COVID-19, teacher, pre-service teacher, home-based exercise, anxiety, mental well-being.

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