Covid-19 fear among teachers: correlation with physical activity and effect mental health and eating behaviors (Çanakkale province example)

In our research, the aim was to reveal the correlation of COVID-19 fear with physical activity levels and effect of COVID-19 fear on mental health and eating behavior among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research had voluntary participation from a total of 384 teachers, 244 women and 140 men. Data collection tools used in the research were the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (Ladikli et al., 2020), International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (Öztürk,2005), Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (Kıraç et al., 2015) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21; Yılmaz, Boz and Arslan, 2017). A form prepared in line with expert opinion was used with the aim of determining the demographic characteristics of participants. Data obtained in the research were analyzed with the SPSS 20.0 statistical analysis program. Along with descriptive statistical analyses, the Pearson correlation was used with to determine the correlation between variables, the independent T test was used to determine the difference between two groups and the one-way ANOVA test was used to determine differences between more than two groups in situations with normal distribution. In situations without normal distribution, the Spearman correlation was used to determine correlations between variables, the Mann Whitney U test was used to determine differences between two groups and the Kruskal Wallis test was used to determine differences between more than two groups. The eta-square coefficient was calculated with the aim of determining effect size. According to findings obtained in the research, with the increase in COVID-19 fear among teachers, their physical activity points reduced. Additionally, individuals with inactive physical activity levels were determined to have higher fear of COVID-19 perception compared to those with high levels of physical activity. Teachers' fear of COVID-19 had a statistically significant effect on mental health. Fear of COVID-19 among teachers was determined to be a variable predicting depression, anxiety and stress levels. COVID-19 fear was identified to be a variable affecting uncontrolled eating, emotional eating and hungersensitive behavior among eating behaviors. Female teachers had statistically higher tendency toward COVID-19 fear, depression and stress levels and emotional eating compared to male teachers. With the increase in depression, anxiety and stress levels of teachers, they were identified to have increased uncontrolled eating, emotional eating and hunger-sensitive behavior. The depression and stress points of teachers were significantly different according to physical activity levels; those with low physical activity levels were determined to have high depression and stress points. The conscious eating behavior of teachers was significantly different according to physical activity levels; those with high physical activity levels had higher conscious eating behavior points. Among teachers, uncontrolled eating, emotional eating and hunger-sensitive behavior were significantly different according to body mass index, with obese individuals having high levels of these behaviors.In conclusion, teachers had fear of COVID-19 at moderate levels, minimally active physical activity levels, low levels of depression, anxiety and stress and moderate levels of eating behavior. Participation in physical activity had a positive effect on the mental health status of teachers. Teachers with high perceptions of COVID-19 fear had low levels of physical activity and it may be said that the increase in fear of COVID-19 among teachers affected depression, anxiety and stress levels and negative eating behavior. Physical activity levels positively affect both mental health and eating behavior. For this reason, it is considered necessary to direct teachers toward physical activity in a general sense, including during the pandemic. Implementation of programs to increase participation in physical activity among teachers will assist in increasing motivation by contributing to positive development of their mental health and physical health.