Perceived Stress and Sources of Stress among University Academics During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Perceived stress is the feelings or thoughts that an individual has about how much stress they are under at a given point in time or over a given time period. Higher education is of paramount importance to the country as universities are the places where knowledge is created through research and invention. To preserve the continuous smooth flow of knowledge creation and dissemination, lecturers play a vital role in the system. Therefore, their mental condition becomes a crucial factor, as stress can lead to various negative consequences. Even though university academics are knowledgeable, many tend to express feelings of experiencing stress in day-to-day life. As there is limited research conducted on the perceived stress among university academics oftwo state universities, this research could bridge the knowledge gap that exists in this regard. The research aims to investigate the perceived stress levels of university academics. The main theoretical framework of this study consisted of the theory of stress and coping developed by Lazarus and Folkman. The study population was comprised of two reputed state universities in Sri Lanka. Of the population of 813 lecturers, a sample of 262 was selected. It was selected to have a confidence level of 95% that the real value is within ±5% of the measured/surveyed value. Seven faculties from each university were selected for this study, and 131 academics from each university were randomly selected to be participants. Although the questionnaire was sent to 262 participants, only 50 of them responded. Convenience sampling was used as the technique for sample selection. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress, and it was used as the instrument in the study. The primary data were gathered through the distribution of questionnaires as Google forms, mainly due to the disturbances in the country. Secondary material was gathered through books and other published research articles. By analysing the gathered data through SPSS, the researcher identified that 96% of the participants suffer from moderate to high stress. This is concerning as they are required to be mentally and physically strong in order to maintain the smooth flow of knowledge creation and dissemination. Some of the participants are engaged in different activities as solutions to stress. However, only 7% of them are engaged in relaxation exercises as a way of coping with stress. This could be mainly due to a lack of awareness regarding the benefits of relaxation exercises. As a researcher, it is important to reiterate the importance of the awareness of perceived stress and the employment of different mechanisms for decreasing stress levels for the betterment of one’s well-being.