The association between core job components, physical activity, and mental health in African academics in a post-COVID-19 context
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 29, 2025

A Community-based Stress Management Program: Using Wearable Devices to Assess Whole Body Physiological Responses in Non-laboratory Settings
Published on: January 22, 2018
Nestor Asiamah1,2, Faith Muhonja3, Akinlolu Omisore4
1School of Health and Care Professions, University of Portsmouth, Winston Churchill Ave, Portsmouth, PO1 2UP UK.
Abstract:
This study examined the association between core job components (i.e. teaching, research, and student assessment), physical activity (PA), and mental health in a post-COVID-19 context. An online questionnaire administered via Google Forms was used to gather data from 1064 African academics in four countries. A sensitivity analysis was applied to adjust for covariates. Data were analyzed with the hierarchical linear regression analysis. The average age of participants was 44 years. The study found that PA was positively associated with research but negatively associated with student assessment. Mental health was positively associated with onsite teaching but negatively associated with online teaching and research. PA did not predict mental health and mediate the relationship between the job components and mental health. It is concluded that PA may not increase mental health in African academics in a post-COVID-19 situation that required the resumption of work while observing social distancing protocols.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Stress and Mental Health
Individuals with depression often experience challenges in both their personal and professional...
Psychological Responses to Stress
Introduction to Stress and Lifestyle
Components of Stress
Interestingly, the hidden cube faces also experience these stresses, equal and...
Physiological Foundation of Stress
Role of the Sympathetic Nervous System
Adrenaline triggers the...
Factors Affecting Illness
For instance, risk factors are connected to illness,...

