Introduction
The two articles revolve around the health situation of workers and how it relates to the COVID-19 measure of teleworking. The health situation includes mental conditions and physical and psychological health. The first article by Mendonça et al. (2022) aimed to investigate the effects of work needs during the COVID period on the worker’s mental wellbeing. According to the article, COVID-19 had arrived to transform society’s structure following the adoption of telework. Lockdowns have caused working patterns to be reevaluated and given telework more significance. Mendonça et al. (2022) note that it is essential to consider how continual information and communication technology usage may affect employees’ mental health. The second article by Chow et al. (2022) aimed to assess workers’ experiences under the work-from-home (WFH) program during the COVID times. According to the report, teleworking would mean working in different locations, not necessarily at the office but most commonly at one’s home. Chow et al. (2022) reveal that WFH had to be implemented without corporate expertise or understanding of the program as it became temporarily required owing to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.
Research Question
What are the health impacts of teleworking during the COVID period on workers?
Hypothesis: There is a relationship between workers’ health situation and teleworking during the COVID pandemic.
Evaluation of How Data Was Used in the Article by Mendonça et al. (2022)
The study by Mendonça et al. (2022) used data on different socio-demographics of persons during the lockdown periods of COVID-19. The data used in the study sought to include imagined surveillance, mobile servicing expectations, communication overwhelm, emotions of entrapment, hopelessness, anxiousness, stress, and thriving of four groups of workers: teleworkers, on-site workers, laid-off workers, and unemployed workers. The data used consisted of 500 sampled participants who were Portuguese affected by the lockdown of the COVID-19 outbreak from April to July in the year 2020. The sampled participants’ average age was 44.6 years old. The majority of participants (81.8%) were female. Nearly a quarter of the participants in the study had a master’s, and over half had a bachelor’s degree. More than half of the participants were married or living together, and only around a quarter was single.
More than half of the participants (more than 50%) had one or two children, making up the majority of participants (70.0%). Nearly all of the attendees were Portuguese. The data used by Mendonça et al. (2022) also showed that during the shutdown, most participants worked on behalf of other people and conducted most of their job remotely (telework). The data by Mendonça et al. (2022) study is therefore credible since it gave the timings when it was collected to ease referencing. In addition, the information is reliable since it can be used to make inferences regarding the effects of teleworking on the health of individuals. The data is well documented as it has given the project duration and included key socio-demographics of persons involved. The fact that most of the interviewed participants were teleworking and were employees of others shows the data was reliable.
Evaluation of How Data Was Used in the Article by Chow et al. (2022)
The data used in the study by Chow et al. (2022) was reliable as it involved participants who were teleworking for more than four months during the COVID-19 era. The data included 143 responses, with more than 61% under work from home program. The participants were also staff members of health institutions in Australia who were WFH during the pandemic from March to July 2020. The data describes the social demographic situations of the people, the arrangement of doing work, and their experiences with teleworking. The expertise in teleworking data accounted for three dimensions: the process and productiveness of work, home and the family, and the individual’s wellbeing. The personal wellbeing dimension used SPANE and included data on the workers’ emotional feelings and mental wellbeing. The data is reliable as it shows the timings and focuses on the main concerns laid out in the questionnaire. The information is well documented as it includes all elements around teleworking and its impacts.
Evaluation of Data Analysis and Interpretation
Data analysis by Mendonça et al. (2022) involved statistical analysis using SPSS software. The data support the hypothesis as it shows a relationship between the working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the general health situation of the workers. The working conditions led to different health impacts on the wellbeing of the workers.
The study showed that teleworking women were more likely to experience despair and anxiety, parents flourished much more than persons without kids, and individuals with higher levels of education felt more trapped. Importantly, Mendonça et al. (2022) demonstrate that telework was linked to perceived monitoring and communications overloading, which mediated the link with mobile maintenance demands and entrapment, negatively affecting mental wellbeing and general quality of life. However, flourishing acted as a defense against mental illnesses. Teleworkers were found to have high levels of job stress, anxiety, and depression that negatively affected their mental wellbeing. Therefore the study by Mendonça et al. (2022) proves the hypothesis and answers the research questions by detailing the impacts of teleworking during the COVID era.
Data analysis by Chow et al. (2022) involved the use of thematic analysis as the data responses were open. The study found that the participants had different perceptions of teleworking. The survey established further that more than 90% of the participants were optimistic about the WFH program as it supported their mental wellbeing. One of the thematic analysis themes provided workers’ perceptions of their mental health and the support given by teleworking. The theme shows that teleworkers had reduced stress and a healthy balanced life since they could have extra hours of rest, have time with the family, and engage in other matters out of the office at their will. However, teleworking increased loneliness among the workers who were at all times in the workplace having robust social engagements that could improve mental wellbeing.
Conclusion
The two articles by Mendonça et al. (2022) and Chow et al. (2022) prove the hypothesis that there existed a relationship between workers’ health situation and teleworking during the COVID pandemic. The data used by the two studies are reliable, credible, and well-documented since they addressed the intended objectives. The article answers the research question by detailing the health impacts of teleworking during COVID-19. The article established that job stress, depression, and anxiety are among the health impacts on teleworkers due to COVD 19. Teleworking increases loneliness and reduces the levels of social interactions among colleagues. However, teleworking also had some positives as it gave workers more time for rest and sleep, which improved their health and wellbeing and heve time for the family improving their social wellbeing.
References
Chow, J. S. F., Palamidas, D., Marshall, S., Loomes, W., Snook, S., & Leon, R. (2022). Teleworking from home experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic among public health workers (TelEx COVID-19 study). BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13031-0
Mendonça, I., Coelho, F., Ferrajão, P., & Abreu, A. M. (2022). Telework and Mental Health during COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), 2602. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052602
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