Psycho-Social Impact of Corona Virus Pandemic on Tertiary Institution Workers in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined psycho-social impact of corona virus on Tertiary Institution workers in Nigeria. The population of the study was all Tertiary Institution workers in Nigeria. However, only 210 workers who could be reached through their WhatsApp and Gmail accounts and who obliged to fill the questionnaire by the researchers participated in the study.  Because of the social distancing and stay-at-home orders, an online questionnaire was used in carrying out the study. The 15-item Questionnaire was a 4 -point Likert scale, which was designed by the researchers using google form. Before sending out the questionnaire, it was validated by experts in psychological testing in the University of Lagos. To determine the internal consistency of the instrument, it was administered on 15 people who were not part of the participants in the study. The internal consistency yielded an index of 0.76 using Cronbach Alpha. The findings of the study revealed that corona virus pandemic has effect on the psychological and social lives of workers in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Test of the hypothesis stated revealed no gender difference in the psychosocial effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the tertiary workers. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the workers in tertiary institutions should adopt coping mechanisms such as enrolling in online training programmes to learn skills such as cooking, cloth making, and dancing. They should also adopt daily physical exercise such as jogging which would help them to stroll out of the house to receive fresh air.

Keywords: Psychological, social, corona virus, pandemic, tertiary institution.