Burnout and coping strategies among Professors during COVID-19: Portugal-Brazil comparative study

Abstract

The global pandemic experienced in recent years led Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to close their facilities to safeguard the health and safety of the academic community. This reality overloaded professors in terms of work, often leading them to the limit of exhaustion and impacting on their performance, quality of life and well-being, taking, in many cases, to burnout. This study aims to identify and characterize the frequency of burnout and strategies of coping in professors from HEIs of Portugal and Brazil. A sample of 132 professors answered to online self-administrated questionnaires: sociodemographic and telework conditions; Oldenburg-Burnout Inventory and Brief-COPE. The results suggest that: regarding burnout, the exhaustion dimension is higher among professors in Portugal; regarding coping strategies, professors in Brazil use more strategies designated as maladaptive. Appropriate coping strategies and resources made available to professors can contribute to their well-being at work and to their quality of life and happiness.