Zoom fatigue and burnout among primary school teachers in the  Mawanella Education Zone

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the virtualization of education, leading to an unprecedented increase in using video conferencing for teaching-learning activities across the globe. However, there is a dearth of local studies assessing the impact of this virtualization on the mental health of teachers. This cross-sectional study with an analytical component was conducted to assess Zoom fatigue, burnout, and their associations among primary school teachers in the Mawanella education zone. All primary school teachers in the setting were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire (in all three languages), including Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale (ZEF) and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), circulated as a Google form. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 22.0. Zoom fatigue was described using the mean (SD) ZEF score. Independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the mean ZEF scores between different sub-groups. Pearson correlation was used to assess the relationship between ZEF and burnout scores. The final sample comprised of 342 teachers. The majority were females (n=263, 76.9%). The mean (SD) age was 40.2 (8.5) years. The ZEF score ranged from 15.0 to 65.0 with a mean (SD) of 34.6 (8.7). Teachers who; were currently not married, had to learn Zoom technology from school, had poor family support for teaching, reported statistically significantly higher mean ZEF scores than their counterparts (p<0.05). Teachers who; were excessively self-conscious, found multitasking difficult, stressed to use multiple features in Zoom and learn advanced technology, reported significantly higher ZEF scores than their counterparts (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant positive relationship between ZEF and burnout scores (r=0.254, p<0.001). Hence, it was concluded that the scores of Zoom fatigue among primary school teachers in the Mawanella education zone are high. Providing more support to learn the novel Zoom technology would be beneficial to reduce Zoom fatigue among teachers.