Relationship Between Mental Workload and Cognitive Function in the Academic Staff of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran, 2022

Academic staff have different roles which may impose a high mental workolad on them and affect their cognitive function. This study was designed to assess different subscales of mental worklaod and cognitive function in university academic staff. 

This was a cross-sectional study on 86 faculty members of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. Stratified sampling was used to select participants from different schools. The participants were divided into basic sciences and clinical faculty members. Mental workload was assessed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Cognitive function was assessed by Stroop test. Data were analyzed by SPSS 26 using Shapiro-Wilks test, Student’s T-test, Mann Whitney U test, univariate ANOVA, and Kruskal-Wallis test. The level of significance was 0.05. 

Mean age and work history of the participants was 43.6±8.6 yr. and 11.7±9.1 yr., respectively. Mental workload, especially two aspects of mental demand and performance, was high and it was significantly higher in the participants from school of medicine and among those with executive/administrative responsibilities. From subscales of mental workload, physical demand was significantly higher among clinical than basic sciences faculty members (p<0.05). Among different aspects of cognitive function, only numbers of congruent errors were significantly higher among clinical faculties. Mental workload and cognitive function were not significantly correlated.

This study showed a high level of mental workload in university academic staff, especially in clinical faculty members, but this high mental workload did not affect their cognitive function.