Adverse health experiences narrated by university staff leaving during the COVID-19 pandemic

This chapter outlines the study context as the COVID-19 pandemic effects, a federal government with a record of hostility to the public university sector, and longer-term managerialism within higher education. Sparse relevant literature covers personal identity, career impact, coping, academic job loss, and COVID-19 exacerbated mental health impacts. Staff from a typical Australian university who departed their jobs or who had been redeployed during the 18 months from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, for whom email addresses were available, were sent a brief anonymous survey inviting them to provide a narrative describing their job loss or redeployment experience. Of 104 usable returns, 77 provided narratives describing their leaving/redeployment experience (aggregate >23,000 words). Eight departure reasons were identified. Most respondents had been in either academic or professional roles prior to departing. Thirteen narrative extracts tabulated to illustrate physical/mental health impacts suggested that departure mode was not a predictor of the extent to which a respondent’s mental health would be impacted. Major perceived contributors to adverse mental health outcomes included adverse prior work environment and inadequate support. Of various job loss outcomes identified, most were congruent with literature findings. Ten illustrative verbatim extracts from respondent narratives coded under the feelings/emotions subtheme are tabulated and deconstructed. Strongly felt negative emotions were not restricted to respondents whose positions had been made redundant. Findings within a prior research context, study strengths, limitations, implications, and suggested future research directions are discussed.