Abstract
This study examines the impact of migration processes on burnout among Ukrainian university academic staff during the full-scale war. A survey involving 836 participants from 164 higher education institutions revealed that 37% of respondents became forced migrants, either internally (24%) or externally (13%). Significant connections were found between forced migration and burnout among academic staff, with noticeable distinctions between external migrants, internal migrants, and non-migrants. Academic staff who were forced to migrate displayed higher levels of emotional exhaustion compared to non-migrant counterparts. External migrants experienced energy depletion, while internal migrants reported reduced professional accomplishment. Inadequate pay, social security instability, increased professional activity, insufficient state support, anxiety, constant stress, and concern for their country, city, and university were common factors contributing to burnout among all groups. External migrants faced challenges with social protection, team relations, and workload. Internal migrants encountered difficulties in rebuilding professional activities and experienced a heightened sense of danger, particularly for those living in temporarily occupied territories. The findings highlight the necessity for targeted support strategies to address the unique needs of academic staff during conflict and migration, promoting their mental health and resilience at the policymaker and university administrator levels during times of crisis by implementing support strategies and programs to help them cope with the challenges of migration and promote overall job satisfaction for quality education of the next generation of citizens.
Plain language summary
This study investigates how migration processes impact burnout among Ukrainian university academic staff during the full-scale war. We surveyed 836 participants from 164 higher education institutions, with 37% of respondents becoming forced migrants, either internally (24%) or externally (13%). Significant connections were observed between forced migration and burnout among academic staff, revealing distinctions between external migrants, internal migrants, and non-migrants. Forced migrant academic staff experienced higher emotional exhaustion, while external migrants faced energy depletion, and internal migrants reported reduced professional accomplishment. Common factors contributing to burnout included inadequate pay, social security instability, increased professional activity, insufficient state support, anxiety, constant stress, and concern for their country, city, and university. External migrants faced challenges with social protection, team relations, and workload, while internal migrants encountered difficulties in rebuilding professional activities and faced a heightened sense of danger in temporarily occupied territories. The findings emphasize the need for targeted support strategies for academic staff during conflict and migration, promoting mental health and resilience. Policymakers and university administrators can implement support programs to help academic staff cope with migration challenges and enhance job satisfaction for quality education. While this study provides valuable insights, it also has limitations that warrant further research.
Introduction
The year 2022 will go down in world history as the year of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which, among other things, is characterized by a massive migration of Ukrainians. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in the first 7 days of the war, more than 1 million people crossed the Ukraine border in search of refuge and safety in other countries (UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, 2022). In the 6 months of the war, the scale of migration to Poland alone reached 5.4 million, and in Europe as a whole, there are now about 8 million refugees from Ukraine (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2022. Operational data portal). Internal migration is also common in Ukraine, with people moving from occupied territories and areas of active combat to safer places (Suchikova, 2023).
For the average citizen, migration means solving many practical challenges, such as finding housing, settling in a new place, and often finding work (Akay & Ahmadi, 2022). Language barriers (Ouanhnon et al., 2023; Taylan & Weber, 2023), migratory grief and loss (Aroian et al., 2003), cultural adaptation (Charles-Rodriguez et al., 2023; Roskladka et al., 2023), and financial security (Fedun et al., 2023) are also significant issues. These challenges can cause high-stress levels and psychological instability among refugees, which have been the subject of numerous studies (Kirmayer et al., 2010; Meurling et al., 2023; Sheather, 2022).
Previous studies on the mental health of refugees have shown that forced migration leads to the development of post-traumatic stress disorders, with rates up to 10 times higher than those among the general population (Blackmore et al., 2020; Fazel et al., 2005; Henkelmann et al., 2020; Turrini et al., 2017).
During the COVID pandemic, many professions adapted to online work (Bao, 2020; Diaz Lema et al., 2023; Smith & Jones, 2023), which allowed Ukrainian migrants to retain their jobs even when moving abroad during the migration processes of 2022 (Adamczyk et al., 2022; Rizzi et al., 2022; Szajna & Kostrzewski, 2022). Today, representatives of the IT, online services, and education sectors work remotely using online services (Minora et al., 2022a). This undoubtedly has a positive impact as it eliminates the issue of job searching among migrants. On the other hand, research demonstrates that remote work is also a significant factor leading to psychological problems (Gualano et al., 2022; Matias et al., 2023) . Working in such a mode often causes burnout, a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, professional cynicism, and a decreased sense of accomplishment. Doctors and teaching staff are rightfully considered the most vulnerable professions (Johnson et al., 2005).
In Ukraine were around 60,000 academic staff (Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine, 2021). Systematic reviews indicate that the main factors contributing to burnout among university academic staff are pedagogical pressure, heavy administrative workload, research pressure, and unsatisfactory leadership and management (Kinman & Johnson, 2019; Urbina-Garcia, 2020; Watts & Robertson, 2011). Even under normal working conditions, teaching staff demonstrates higher burnout levels than other professionals (Caprara et al., 2006; García-Carmona et al., 2018; Klusmann et al., 2016) . This is partly explained by the international job market demands for more experienced professionals with higher professional degrees and experience to meet the interests and needs of large transnational corporations worldwide (Cohen, 2018).
During times of crisis and constant danger to life, academic staff are forced to seek refuge. With the commencement of full-scale war, many academic staff members have migrated, either internally or externally. Preliminary estimates indicate that in the first few months of the war, approximately 22,000 academic staff members left the country. Overall, the war has affected around 100,000 academic staff members in Ukraine. (Gaind et al., 2022). Due to such a massive forced migration, Ukrainian higher education will face the problem of “brain drain” in the long-term perspective (Tolstanova & Opatska, 2023). The loss of human resources poses a threat to the national security of any country; therefore, the state needs to develop policies to make an appropriate impact on this issue (Boreiko et al., 2022; Mangora, 2022; Tarasenko & Tarasenko, 2022).
Based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory stress is not solely a result of individual appraisal but is influenced by environmental, social, and cultural factors that impact individuals’ ability to acquire and protect resources necessary for mental health (Hobfoll, 1998). By incorporating the COR theory into the study, it recognizes the importance of understanding how resource-related factors contribute to burnout among academic staff. It highlights the significance of not only addressing individual factors but also addressing the environmental and contextual factors. In order to preserve human capital in these crisis conditions, academic staff have been allowed to continue working remotely in their universities. This enables forced migrants, both external and internal, to continue performing their professional functions (Nikolaiev et al., 2023). However, on the other hand, this can significantly affect not only the nature of the activity itself but also mental health in such crisis conditions. The shift to online learning and the change in regular work routines further exacerbate the problem of mental health and burnout among education professionals (Carroll et al., 2022; Panadero et al., 2022; Sato et al., 2022; Sharifian et al., 2023; Springer et al., 2023). Thus, Ukrainian academic staff faces challenging working conditions today, including danger, forced migration, and a shift to remote work. This will significantly impact their mental health (Mosleh et al., 2022).
Despite numerous studies examining the relationship between migration and burnout, there is still a lack of understanding regarding the impact of acute political and military crises on this process, especially within the academic community. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of the impact of forced migration caused by a full-scale war on burnout among academic staff in Ukrainian universities and to identify factors that contribute to burnout depending on their migration status.
Research Methodology
Study Design and Participants
The study was conducted in July 2022, 5 months after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. The selection criteria for academic staff were voluntary participation, having a job in a higher education institution, gender, position, and the nature of their location since the start of the full-scale war.
The main research instrument was a questionnaire consisting of three sections. The first section included questions about gender, age, professional role (position), and changes in location due to the full-scale war in Ukraine.
The second section of the questionnaire was a standardized Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Study (MBI-HSS) questionnaire (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). According to this questionnaire, burnout is determined by three predictors (subscales): emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA). The results of this section were processed according to a standardized procedure. We conducted a complete MBI-HSS, which included all 22 questions across three subscales: nine questions assessed EE, eight assessed PA, and five assessed DP. During the survey evaluation, the responses were grouped into categories (EE, DP, and PA) based on a key and then added together to obtain a score for each category.
The third section of the questionnaire aimed to identify the main factors that may affect the professional activities of academic staff at Ukrainian universities during times of full-scale war. These factors were grouped into four categories:
Socio-economic (the lack of material and technical infrastructure, economic instability, intensified professional activity, inadequate level of remuneration, lack of state support, instability of social protection, deterioration of the security situation, nothing has changed).
Socio-psychological (uncertainty in team relationships, lack of communication with colleagues, a change in desire to work in higher education institutions or in the education system as a whole, absence of support from colleagues, a change in motivation for professional activities, a destructive atmosphere in the team, a change in relationships within the higher education institution; nothing has changed).
Professional (feelings of a lack of resources necessary for scientific activities; an unclear prospect of further activities for higher educational institutions; relocation of higher educational institutions to a new location; the search for new tools; updating the regulatory framework of higher educational institutions; work takes much more time and effort than before; destruction and damage to the material and technical base of higher educational institutions; the need to update the educational and professional program and content of educational components; nothing has changed).
Personal (constant feeling of danger; inability to control emotional state; constant concern for the fate of the country, city, and university; anxiety; constant stress; difficulty in professional self-realization; difficulty in adapting one’s activities to new conditions; nothing has changed).
Respondents were given the opportunity to choose several possible responses based on their subjective assessment of the impact since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. The assessment considered the frequency of responses for each subfactor within a specific group of factors.
Survey Administration
The questionnaire was distributed through university management representatives to academic staff email addresses. A total of 1,200 questionnaires were sent, of which 836 were returned. The study followed ethical guidelines and ensured anonymity for all participants. Participants were informed of the study’s purpose, duration, and data protection measures. They were assured that there were no right or wrong answers and that their personal information would be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes or publication in a summarised format with general quantitative and statistical data. Participants gave their informed consent for the findings to be generalized.
Statistical Analysis
The statistical analysis was conducted using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) program. Multivariate regression was used to analyse the relationship between several independent variables and the dependent variable. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for one-factor variance analysis to assess the difference between independent samples. Duncan’s test was used to calculate the range statistics for each comparison. Associations and comparisons of means were considered statistically significant if P ≤ .05. Frequency analysis was used to investigate the number of cases (frequencies) and analyse indicators of central tendency, dispersion, percentiles, etc. to analyse the influence of socioeconomic, sociopsychological, professional, and personal factors on burnout among Ukrainian academic staff depending on their migration status.
Results
Demographic Information
The study included 836 academic staff from 164 higher education institutions in Ukraine. Among the participants, 55 (7%) individuals are 61 years old or older. The majority falls within the 35 to 50 age range, with 379 (45%) participants. Additionally, 275 (33%) individuals aged 51 to 60 years and 127 (15%) under 35 years old. The academic staff comprises both male and female participants. Of the total, 171 (20%) individuals identify as male, while the remaining 665 (80%) participants identify as female. The academic staff is composed of individuals holding various positions. There are 147 (18%) participants who hold the position of a professor, 464 (55%) participants who are associate professors, 148 (18%) participants who are senior lecturers, and 77 (9%) participants who are assistant professors. The observed imbalances in gender, age, and academic position among the academic staff align with the broader landscape of Ukrainian universities.
Regarding migration processes during the full-scale war in Ukraine, the participants can be categorized into three groups. The largest group comprises 526 (63%) non-migrant participants, meaning they have not migrated and remain in their original location during the full-scale war. There are 199 (24%), individuals who are internal migrants, meaning they have migrated within the country. Additionally, 111 (13%) participants are external migrants, indicating they have migrated to a different country. We can see that 37% of the respondents became migrants, while 63% remained in their permanent locations.
To understand the motives of migration, we analysed the dependence of migration processes on the nature of the territory using three predictors:
Territories where there is no escalation of hostilities.
Territories where active hostilities are taking place.
Temporarily occupied territories.
Figure 1 shows the dependence of migration processes on the security situation during the full-scale war.
Dependence of migration processes on the security situation during the full-scale war.
This figure provides a clear understanding of the impact of the security situation on migration processes among university academic staff. Therefore, 87% of the respondents from areas where there were no active hostilities did not change their place of residence. The scaling of hostilities led to the migration of 49% of academic staff from these territories. Only 32% of the academic staff remained living in occupied territories. There is no active fighting in occupied territories, and life is more or less peaceful. However, 68% of respondents left these territories during the survey. This indicates that academic staff value feelings of freedom and physical security.
Academic Staff who lived in areas where there were active hostilities mostly moved to safer territories in Ukraine (64% vs. 36% who moved abroad). Among migrants from occupied territories, 77% chose Ukrainian territories as their new residence, while only 23% moved to other countries. Among migrants from areas without active hostilities, 33% changed their residence within Ukraine, and 67% moved to other countries.
These data indicate that the escalation of hostilities and the level of security in a particular area plays a significant role in the decision of Ukrainian academic staff to move to safer territories or temporarily leave the area.
Impact of Migration Processes on Burnout Among Ukrainian Academic Staff
In the study, the method of regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between age, gender, position, and migration status of university academic staff, and the levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment (Table 1).
Regression Analysis of the Influence of Age, Gender, Position, and Migration Status on Burnout Predictors Among Academic Staff at Ukrainian Universities.
Based on the obtained results, age did not have a statistically significant impact on the levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, or personal accomplishment of academic staff, as all p-values exceeded the threshold value of .05. Secondly, gender was found to be a significant variable in terms of its impact on emotional exhaustion, with a p-value of .000, indicating statistical significance. However, gender did not have a significant impact on the levels of depersonalization or personal accomplishment. Thirdly, the position of the academic staff influenced the level of personal accomplishment, with a p-value of .002, but did not affect the levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Finally, migration status influenced the level of emotional exhaustion, with a p-value of .010, but did not have a significant impact on the levels of depersonalization or personal accomplishment.
These results indicate that in the context of war, gender, and migration status can influence academic staff’s emotional exhaustion, while position can affect the level of personal accomplishment. Overall, we did not find evidence of multicollinearity issues in any of the models, which testifies to the reliability of our conclusions.
Table 2 presents data on burnout among academic staff in Ukrainian universities across three subscales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment, depending on migration processes during the full-scale war. Although we recognize the importance of taking a gender perspective on this issue, it was decided to analyse the data as a whole for two key reasons. The first reason is that the number of men who participated in the study was significantly lower than the number of women. This imbalance could distort the results if we conducted a separate analysis for each gender and hinder a reliable comparison between the two groups. The second reason is that a small number of men have migrated abroad, making it difficult to answer the question of how burnout affects men’s migration choices. Therefore, considering these limitations, we have decided to examine the overall level of burnout in order to understand how it affects the academic staff as a whole, rather than just specific gender groups.
The Impact of Migration Processes on Burnout Predictors Among Academic Staff at Ukrainian Universities During the Full-scale War.
Significant differences were identified in the predictor of burnout, “emotional exhaustion,” between external migrants and non-migrants. The academic staff members compelled to migrate abroad due to large-scale warfare experienced the highest emotional exhaustion, at 67%. The findings also demonstrate no significant disparity in the levels of emotional exhaustion among most respondents, including internal migrants and non-migrants. Nevertheless, over half of the respondents in both groups exhibit high emotional exhaustion—52% and 53%, respectively.
The level of emotional exhaustion among external migrants appears to be higher than anticipated, considering the potential for safety and the continuation of comprehensive professional activities online abroad. Possible explanations for this may include the presence of stress factors related to physical distance from home, emotional engagement through communication with students and colleagues, and the phenomenon of “survivor’s guilt” prevalent among migrants (Kip et al., 2022), as well as a general sense of guilt toward those students and colleagues who remain in Ukraine, persistently under the threat of rocket attacks and bombings. Other factors outside professional activities, such as seeking housing, organizing life in a new residence, adapting to a new environment, etc., also have a notable impact.
A different picture is observed for the burnout subscale of “depersonalization.” As shown in Table 2, there is no significant difference in the level of depersonalization between the respondents of the three groups depending on their place of residence. Thus, the high level of depersonalization among those academic staff who stayed at their permanent residence was 31% among internal migrants; this indicator was 27%, and among external migrants, 29%. At the same time, these data indicate that almost one-third of Ukrainian university academic staff, after 5 months of full-scale war, exhibit increased psychological distance from work or feelings of negativity or cynicism associated with work.
The lack of a relationship between the predictor of burnout “depersonalization” and the migration status among Ukrainian university academic staff, despite the sufficient expression of this predictor in all groups of respondents, can be explained by the necessity of adapting to abnormal living conditions during the full-scale war. This leads to a detachment from professional activity, and the place of residence does not significantly affect this need.
Further analysis revealed a significant association between migration processes among Ukrainian academic staff and the burnout predictor “personal achievement.” As shown in Table 2, 40% of internal migrants experienced a reduction in personal accomplishment, while this indicator was significantly lower among external migrants at 24%. This is confirmed by Duncan’s test, which identifies two homogeneous subgroups (with a standard value of z = 0.05). One subgroup includes academic staff members who were forced to move abroad, while the other subgroup includes two other categories: those who stayed in their permanent residence and those who were forced to move to safer territories of Ukraine. One possible explanation for this decrease is that academic staff abroad have more opportunities for professional development and recognition through support programs actively implemented by the global community (Arbuzova, 2023; Mosienko et al., 2022; Shulga, 2023). Meanwhile, academic staff who became internal migrants found themselves in new circumstances and were significantly limited in their opportunities for professional development and recognition of their achievements during full-scale war (Harashchenko et al., 2022; Stone, 2022).
These results indicate a significant relationship between migration processes among Ukrainian academic staff and predictors such as emotional exhaustion and personal achievement. External migrants are more likely to experience energy depletion, whereas internal migrants are likelier to feel a reduced professional accomplishment. In the next section, we attempt to identify and analyse the factors that affect academic staff during times of war.
Factors of Burnout and Migration Processes
Socio-Economic Factors
In Figure 2, it can be observed that the most significant impact on burnout among Ukrainian academic staff among the three groups of respondents is the factor of deterioration of the security situation: external migrants—84%, internal migrants—84%, those who remained in their permanent place of residence—87%. Respondents from the three groups also noted that almost half of them feel the impact of the absence of economic stability: non-migrants—57%, external migrants—55%, and slightly lower internal migrants—49%.
Socio-economic factors that influence burnout among Ukrainian academic staff during the fullscale war, by migration status.
Significant factors for Ukrainian university academic staff during the full-scale war were inadequate pay, social security instability, increased professional activity, and insufficient state support. However, as seen in Figure 2, the impact of these factors varies between the three groups of respondents. Thus, 41% of external migrants, 39% of those who remained in their permanent residence, and 31% of internal migrants noted inadequate pay. The difference between external and internal migrants may be explained by the additional financial support received by internally displaced persons from both the government and international organizations. At the same time, additional financial payments to academic staff’s salaries outside the country are insufficient to cover the financial expenses for providing full financial support for the family, including higher rental housing costs, transportation expenses, food, etc.
More than a third (37%) of the external migrants feel the instability of social protection, slightly less among the internal migrants (30%). This means that one-third of migrants feel the impact of this factor, while among non-migrants, it accounts for one-fourth (25%). One possible explanation for this difference is that the new living environment leads to the need to rebuild one’s social protection strategy, especially in migration abroad (Duszczyk et al., 2023; Lee et al., 2023). Under such conditions, a person must comply with the rules and laws that apply in the new country of temporary residence (Varpina & Fredheim, 2022).
A significant difference was found in the impact of the “inadequate material and technical base for professional activity” on the burnout of academic staff between migrants and non-migrants. Internal migrants have the highest level of impact of this factor on burnout (23%), external migrants have a lower level of impact (14%), and non-migrants have the lowest level of impact (2%).
It can also be seen that feelings of danger and economic instability have an equal effect on Ukrainian university academic staff regardless of their residence.
Social-Psychological Factors
Figure 3 illustrates the impact of social and psychological factors on Ukrainian academic staff according to their migration status.
Social-psychological factors that influence Ukrainian academic staff during times of full-scale war, depending on migration status.
It can be seen that a common trend among the three groups of respondents is a change in motivation for scientific and pedagogical activities. This social-psychological factor turned out to be the most significant. The highest impact of this factor is felt by external migrants (52%), while the distribution of responses among the other two groups of respondents is the same (41%).
Respondents to the group of external migrants indicate uncertainty in relationships within the team (30%), insufficient communication with colleagues (27%), and a change in desire to work in the higher education system as factors contributing to burnout (25%). The dependence between external migration among academic staff and the influence of sociopsychological factors on burnout may result from changes in forms and modes of professional activity and deterioration of relationships within the work team due to remote work.
Respondents to the group of internal migrants also note that insufficient communication with colleagues is a factor that affects 39% of migrants from internal conflict. Emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged stress leads to some internal isolation of an individual for the restoration of internal resources, which results in reduced contact with colleagues (Mattar & Gellatly, 2022).
Academic staff who have not changed their permanent place of residence note that almost nothing has changed for them (32%). These results are expected. The relative stability in the organization of professional activity can explain these results. On the other hand, it can be observed that 22% of the respondents in this group feel insufficient communication with colleagues, and 20% have the desire to change their professional field.
Professional Factors
Figure 4 illustrates the impact of professional factors on the burnout of Ukrainian lecturers during the war, depending on their location.
Professional factors affecting burnout among Ukrainian academic staff during wartime, by migration status.
For non-migrants, the most significant factor contributing to burnout is that “professional activity takes much more time and effort than before” (89%). Other essential factors include changes in the regulatory framework for activities (38%), the need to search for new tools to engage students in learning (38%), and the “uncertainty of future professional activity” (45%). Excessive workload is caused by the fact that during the war, Ukrainian universities actively engaged in volunteer activities and carried out their third mission—serving society and responding to its urgent needs, and lecturers took on the role of volunteers (Petrushenko et al., 2023). Additionally, lecturers who remained in their permanent locations received additional workload due to the ability to quickly perform professional functions that cannot be performed outside of university walls.
Interestingly, there is a difference in the impact of professional factors between external and internal migrants. The survey results show that for external migrants, the most significant factor is that professional activity takes much more time and effort than before, but these indicators are slightly lower than for non-migrants (72% vs. 89%). Other professional factors were found to be less significant for external migrants: uncertainty of future professional activity (31%), search for new tools to engage students in learning (30%), and lack of resources necessary for the professional activity (24%).
In contrast to external migrants, Ukrainian academic staff who were forced to migrate within the country experienced the impact of professional factors such as the uncertainty of future professional activities (50%), lack of resources necessary for professional activities (35%), and the impact of destruction and damage to the university’s material and technical base on professional activities (23%), as well as the relocation of the university to a new location due to temporary occupation of the place of permanent residence of the university (22%). The results in this section indicate that the three groups of respondents experienced a significant increase in time and effort spent on professional activities during the war. For all groups, the uncertainty about the existence of their universities in new realities was significant. At the same time, these results indicate that migration processes affect the need to search for additional resources for professional activities due to the loss of access to the material and technical base of universities due to physical distance, the destruction of university buildings, or the temporary relocation of the university to a new location.
Personal Factors
Figure 5 shows the influence of personal factors on the burnout of Ukrainian university academic staff during the war.
The influence of personal factors on the burnout of academic staff of Ukrainian universities during the war, depending on migration status.
There was a significant difference in the impact of personal factors on burnout between external migrants and those academic staff who stayed on the Ukrainian territory. The data indicate that external migrants experience the influence of factors such as constant concern for the fate of their country, city, and university (88%), anxiety (77%), constant stress (67%), difficulty with professional self-realization (44%) and inability to control emotional state (29%). These factors differ significantly from the two other groups of respondents. The most significant difference is observed concerning the professional self-realization of external migrants.
This result contradicts initial expectations that external migration would provide an individual with enhanced emotional stability and a sense of security. The presented data do not corroborate this correlation. The sensation of danger within this group of respondents is considerably lower than in the two other groups. This outcome indicates that 41% of external migrants experience the influence of this factor.
Figure 5 shows that for the internal migrants, almost the same factors as the external migrants turned out to be significant. However, these indicators are lower: constant concern for the fate of their country, city, and university (77% of respondents), anxiety (68%), constant stress (57%), and a sense of constant danger (57%). The most significant difference in personal factors between internal migrants and the other two groups of respondents is related to a more significant number of academic staff who experience difficulties due to the need to rebuild their professional activities in new conditions and circumstances. This is primarily due to the lack of necessary conditions for teaching and learning in a new environment. In addition, internal migrants have slightly higher indicators of a sense of danger than the other two groups of respondents (57%). This is partly explained by the fact that internment migrants include academic staff who live in temporarily occupied territories. After moving to Ukraine’s territory, which is under control, they faced constant rocket bombings and shellings, which posed a real physical danger to life.
In general, it can be stated that for all three groups of academic staff of Ukrainian universities, regardless of the change of location, the most significant personal factors are: constant concern for the fate of their country, city, and university; anxiety, and constant stress. At the same time, the results indicate that external migrants have more difficulties with professional self-realization and emotional control. On the other hand, internal migrants have difficulties with the lack of necessary conditions for teaching and learning in a new environment compared to the other two groups of respondents and have slightly higher indicators of a sense of danger.
Discussion
The most striking observation from the analysis of respondents’ responses is that more than half of Ukrainian academic staff have high emotional exhaustion. These data are alarming, as the survey was conducted in the fifth month of the war. The war has been going on for over a year, and the situation has probably worsened even more.
According to Kahn, three empirical or psychological conditions, meaningfulness, safety, and availability, influence whether people “work” or express themselves and personally engage (Kahn, 1990). However, many of these demands can expose academic staff to exhaustion, a lack of compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress (Velez-Cruz & Holstun, 2022; Mosleh et al., 2022).
It should be noted that the COVID pandemic preceded the war. Higher education had to adapt quickly to new working conditions, leading to a significant mental strain on academic staff (Bao, 2020; Sahu, 2020). Personal factors, including the burden of personal responsibility, feelings of guilt or helplessness, as well as doubts about one’s abilities, have also contributed to academic staff burnout worldwide in recent years (Lawrence et al., 2018; Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al., 2023; Ramos et al., 2023; Sibeoni et al., 2019) . Research on burnout among Ukrainian university academic staff in 2020 showed that 38.3% of respondents felt high emotional exhaustion (Kyrian et al., 2020). By the fifth month of the war, the emotional exhaustion of Ukrainian academic staff had increased on average to 57%, which is almost 20% more. Previously, the main factors of burnout were contact with a large number of students (Watts & Robertson, 2011), low levels of well-being and pay (Urbina-Garcia, 2020), high workload and ambiguous job results (Yusoff & Khan, 2013), and excessive demands for continuous professional self-improvement (Pobigun & Shalamai, 2019).
Today, the Ukrainian context presents entirely new factors of burnout and high levels of academic staff stress: deteriorating security situation (Reznikova, 2022), uncertainty about the prospects of further professional activity (Lopatina et al., 2023; Peregudova, 2023; Suchikova et al., 2023), constant concern for the fate of their country, city, and university (Suchikova & Tsybuliak, 2023), anxiety and constant stress (Kurapov et al., 2022), and forced migration (Gewirtz et al., 2022).
Overall, the high levels of personal achievement reduction demonstrated by internal migrants are primarily associated with the loss of access to the material-technical laboratory base, destruction of university buildings, and temporary relocation of the university to a new location (Nikolaiev et al., 2022; Trofymenko 2022). Significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion among external migrants are primarily due to the additional internal resources required for adaptation to a new sociocultural environment (Bailey & Widener, 2022; Kiang et al., 2022). Against this background, professional activity becomes an additional factor of exhaustion when relative physical safety is present. As shown above, external migrants feel the most significant instability of social protection, constant concern for the fate of their country, difficulties in professional self-realization, and emotional control issues. It is also indicative that external migrants feel anxious and unsafe, despite being in safe countries where there is no war. This indicates that those who have experienced war are characterized by post-traumatic stress, the elimination of which requires intervention. In a study on the mental health of Ukrainian refugees in Germany, over 60% of participants reported “significant or serious psychological distress, including loss of sleep due to worrying, constant feelings of tension, and loss of confidence or dignity” (Buchcik et al., 2022). Participants in this study reported experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety related to nervousness, tension, and the inability to stop or control their worries. Another study reported the following data: “Regarding the impact of the war, for Ukrainian participants, about 48.3% knew someone who was killed; 91.2% knew someone who was under threat; 81% reported a negative impact on their income, and 72% cited war as the main cause of suffering” (Chudzicka-Czupała et al., 2023).
In general, for both groups of migrants, instability and limited communication with colleagues are a characteristic factor that influences burnout. These findings confirm those of earlier studies, such as lower social support significantly predicted higher levels of burnout (Farrell et al., 2023). On the other hand, the absence of constructive communication and interaction with residents leads to maladaptive feelings in migrants, alienation, isolation, uselessness, and futility (Botelho et al., 2022; Patel et al., 2022). And even after a particular time, when the main domestic issues are more or less resolved, forced migrants experience feelings of loneliness, a lack of friendly relationships, and feeling foreign and unwanted guests, which creates a social vacuum around them (Blynova, 2010; Leonova, 2015). This encourages academic staff to form communities in temporary locations. For example, external migrants form diasporas to support and unite different migration waves’ efforts to reconstruct Ukraine further (Polishchuk et al., 2023).
Ukrainian academic staff are under challenging conditions of professional activity due to internal and external risks during the war and political instability (Bugrov et al., 2023). Yurchyshena emphasizes that “the uncertainty of the functioning of higher education institutions in Ukraine in the conditions of Russian aggression did not lead to the cessation of the educational process, but caused the scattering of employees and students of higher education institutions both within and outside the country” (Yurchyshena, 2022). Numerous migration processes force many people to leave their home country and travel abroad for a safety.
The findings of this study emphasize the importance of understanding academic staff burnout during crisis times by studying the changes in the surrounding environment. This is consistent with the Ecological Systems theoretical model (Bronfenbrenner, 1992). According to the Ecological Systems model and the results of this study, academic staff are not isolated entities, but rather embedded within a series of nested systems that interact and influence their development and experiences. Accordingly, burnout among academic staff is not solely influenced by individual factors but is influenced by multiple levels of systemic influences. These influences include migration status, the impact of war, and broader societal context.
Limitations
This study has several limitations that should be considered when interpreting the results.
Firstly, the study’s cross-sectional design limits our findings’ generalizability. Burnout levels among academic staff may vary depending on the duration of their stay and their integration stage, which are not captured in this type of study. Further longitudinal research could provide a more comprehensive understanding of how migration impacts faculty burnout over time.
Secondly, our analysis relied on self-report measures of burnout, which could introduce bias due to the social desirability effect. This suggests that some participants may have provided responses that they perceived as more socially acceptable rather than accurately reflecting their experiences.
Thirdly, the representativeness of our sample could be called into question. The demographics of our study participants do not reflect the broader population of forced migrants among academic staff. Notably, there was a low representation of external migrants and an overrepresentation of women. These discrepancies are likely due to ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which has restricted men’s ability to leave the country, except for short-term professional obligations. The majority of female academic staff are forced to migrate with their children, leaving their husbands behind. This situation introduces an additional stress factor that may indirectly influence individuals’ mental health and job performance.
Furthermore, the majority of our participants were relatively young and held lower academic positions. This lack of diversity in our sample could limit the generalizability of our findings to other demographic groups within the academic community. Future research should strive to include a more balanced and diverse sample.
We acknowledge these limitations and have taken them into account in our interpretations. Future research should address these limitations to comprehensively understand migration and burnout among academic staff in Ukrainian higher education institutions.
Conclusions
Based on data analysis, significant links were found between forced migration and burnout among academic staff at Ukrainian universities. The key conclusions drawn from our study warrant further examination, particularly in light of the ongoing full-scale war in Ukraine.
The migration status of academic staff was found to be influential, specifically impacting emotional exhaustion and professional accomplishment. Academic staff who are forced to migrate display higher levels of emotional exhaustion compared to their non-migrant counterparts. External migrants are more likely to experience energy depletion, whereas internal migrants are more likely to feel reduced professional accomplishment.
The findings indicate that inadequate pay, social security instability, increased professional activity, insufficient state support, constant concern for the fate of their country, city, and university, as well as experiences of anxiety and constant stress, are common factors contributing to burnout among all academic staff groups during the full-scale war in Ukraine. However, significant differences emerge when analysing the specific impact of some factors on burnout between external migrants, internal migrants, and non-migrants.
External forced migrants experience the instability of social protection and encounter additional challenges such as uncertain team relationships and reduced communication with colleagues. They also have increased workloads, although to a lesser extent than non-migrants. Furthermore, they express concerns about the uncertainty of future professional activities and access to resources. External migrants face a unique set of challenges, including difficulties with professional self-realization and emotional control.
Internal migrants face unique challenges as well, particularly in rebuilding their professional activities in new environments and circumstances. In comparison to both external migrants and non-migrants, internal migrants are significantly impacted by a lack of material and technical resources for professional activity, leading to burnout. The absence of necessary conditions for teaching and learning in a new setting is a significant factor contributing to burnout. They also encounter distinct difficulties in rebuilding their professional activities under new conditions and circumstances, and experience a heightened sense of danger, especially for those who lived in temporarily occupied territories.
Overall, this study provides insights into the burnout experiences of Ukrainian academic staff during the full-scale war, distinguishing between external migrants, internal migrants, and non-migrants. While inadequate pay, social security instability, increased professional activity, and insufficient state support affected all groups, specific challenges related to migration, team relationships, and environmental changes were observed among migrants. These findings emphasize the importance of targeted support strategies to address the distinct needs of academic staff during times of conflict and migration, promoting their mental health and enhancing their resilience in challenging circumstances. These results are essential for policymakers, university administrators, and the development of mental health support programs.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability Statement
The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.