When the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee surveyed its employees last year about how the pandemic was affecting them, the results were alarming: Among the 631 university employees who responded, 73 percent reported having one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the pandemic. Nearly 40 percent reported having three or more symptoms.

Those were among the findings that Topitzes and Adam Jussel, the dean of students, shared from a 2021 study of how faculty and staff members were coping with Covid and how the university could better support its roughly 6,700 employees. Most survey respondents were white women; 69 percent were staff members, 26 percent were faculty members, and 5 percent were student employees. Topitzes and Jussel soon hope to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal.

According to the study, people who were younger, had caregiving responsibilities, experienced social isolation, or lost loved ones to Covid-19 were more likely to report symptoms of PTSD.