Reward, Social Support and General Health in Colombian Teleworkers. A Mixed Study

The expansion of teleworking, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, places at the center of the research agenda, the possible implications for the teleworker´s health. This research aims to explore the lived experience in reward, social relationships and mental health in Colombian teleworkers, reported in phenomenological interviews, and to compare in which extent such experience matches with the scores obtained in sub-scales of recompense, social support, and the Goldberg general health scale, in a sample of Colombian teleworkers. A convergent mixed method QUAN + QUAL = corroboration, was used. The participants were adults, living in Colombia, with a teleworking contract for more than six months. Recruitment was done through social networks (Facebook and Twitter); a typical case sampling method was used. A comparison of the quantitative and quantitative results was made according to the common concepts identified in the two data sets. We identified in which way the data converge, diverge, or expand the understanding of the results. The quantitative and qualitative results confirmed each other in all cases. The main protective factors for the Colombian teleworker health identified were being able to avoid the use of public transport, saving time, and the comfort and tranquility of work from home. The main risk factors identified were reduction in social activity, reduction in physical activity and overwork.