Impact of Online Teaching on Mental Health and Quality of Life among Medical Teachers during COVID‑19 Pandemic ‑ A Cross‑sectional Study.

Background: Stress is the physiological and psychological response to internal or external stressors. The COVID 19 outbreak caused a sudden shutdown of conventionally designed medical teaching and new digital e‑learning methods emerged which invariably affected the psychology of medical teachers. Aims and Objective: To study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and distance teaching on the psychological status of medical teachers. Materials and Methods: A total of 322 medical teachers were included in the study; an online survey was conducted through a social media platform between April and May 2021. The online consent was obtained from all the participants. Participants were asked to complete a modified validated Google Form questionnaire with perceived stress scale (PSS‑10) which is a classic stress assessment instrument. Results: The PSS‑10 score was significantly high in the medical teachers who were using digital online e‑learning methods first time during this COVID 19 pandemic lockdown. Male teachers reported more stress as compared to female teachers. Conclusion: Higher perceived stress among medical teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic should be acknowledged and strategies to mitigate it should be recommended. Proper counseling services should be available to support the mental health and well-being of faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]