The psychological impact of the first lockdown on the scientific productivity in the University of Cagliari.

The experience of the first lockdown imposed by the pandemic COVID-19 and the related restrictions led to deep upheavals in private lives and work habits, both at an individual and collective level, also in the academic context. The present study aimed to explore the impact of this health emergency on working conditions and achievements in the University of Cagliari, focusing, in particular, on the relationship between several psychological dimensions and the scientific performance of the teaching staff. Between September and October 2020, a survey has been administered to 968 subjects (researchers, associate and full professors) and 243 of them - 50% men and 50% women, ranging from 30 to 70 years old - completed an anonyme questionnaire, on a completely voluntary basis, reaching a response rate of approximately 25%. The study has taken into account the following validated tools: Perceived Stress Scale -PSS 10 (Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R., 1983; Mondo, M., Sechi, C., & Cabras, C., 2019); Work-Family Interface Scale (Kinnunen, U., Feldt, T., Geurts, S., & Pulkkinen, L., 2006; Italian version De Simone et al., 2018); Workload Scale (Spector, P.E., & Jex, S.M., 1998); Perceived Organizational Support (Eisenberg, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D., 1986; Battistelli, A., & Mariani, M.G., 2011); Work Engagement- UWES-9 (Schaufeli, W.B., Bakker, A.B., & Salanova, M., 2006; Simbula et al., 2013); Workplace Social Isolation (Marshall, G.W., Michaels, C.E., & Mulki, J.P., 2007). On the other hand, the Scientific Productivity of all participants (as number of papers sent to specialized journals) and their Satisfaction expressed about this goal, have been measured. Data analysis: To verify associations between all dimensions we used Pearson's correlation and, in order to determine if there were significant differences between gender, academic position, presence/absence of children, scientific productivity and productivity satisfaction on the variables studied, we performed a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). To test the role of the different dimensions of the work-family interface, workload and perceived organizational support on positive and negative perceived stress, productivity and productivity satisfaction, four regressions were conducted. Results: The first regression showed that only the positive work-to-family spillover was predictive of the positive perceived stress; there was therefore a positive association between the positive perception of stress and the positive work-to-family direction. The second regression showed three predictors with a significant influence on the negative perceived stress. In particular, the data highlighted a negative relationship between age and the negative perceived stress, and between the positive work-to-family spillover and the negative perceived stress, while a positive relationship between the negative work-to-family spillover and the negative perceived stress emerged. Finally, there were two predictors for the productivity satisfaction dimension: findings showed a positive relationship between the positive work-to-family spillover and the productivity satisfaction, and a negative relationship between the negative family-to-work spillover and the productivity satisfaction. Lastly, the scientific productivity was not explained by the dimensions analyzed in this study