Factors shaping the mental health and well-being of people experiencing persistent COVID-19 symptoms or ‘long COVID’: qualitative study, 2022, Burton

Full title: Factors shaping the mental health and well-being of people experiencing persistent COVID-19 symptoms or ‘long COVID’: qualitative study

Abstract

Background
Around one in ten people who contract COVID-19 report persistent symptoms or ‘long COVID’. Impaired mental health and well-being is commonly reported, including anxiety, depression and reduced quality of life. However, there is limited in-depth research exploring why mental health and well-being are affected in people experiencing long COVID.

Aims
To explore factors affecting mental health and well-being from the perspective of people with long COVID.

Method
Semi-structured qualitative interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Twenty-one people with long COVID participated in the study. Participants were eligible if they self-reported a positive swab test/antibody test or one or more commonly reported COVID-19 symptoms at illness onset. and experiences of one or more long COVID symptoms ≥3 weeks following illness onset.

Results
Five themes were identified across participant accounts regarding factors affecting mental health and well-being, including symptoms causing severe disruption to daily life, lack of service and treatment options, uncertainty of illness trajectories, experiences of care and understanding from others and changes to identity.

Conclusions
People with long COVID experience a range of factors that negatively affect their mental health and well-being. Providing patient-centred health services that integrate rapidly evolving research in this area is important, as are peer support groups and supported approaches to self-management.

Open access, https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...tative-study/0D8086DFB26FFA876655B051BB75B407

 

"Feeling ignored or not believed by healthcare professionals, family members and friends has been commonly reported.1,Reference Ladds, Rushforth, Wieringa, Taylor, Rayner and Husain14,Reference Buttery, Philip, Williams, Fallas, West and Cumella22,Reference Philip, Buttery, Williams, Vijayakumar, Tonkin and Cumella31 These experiences are similar to those described by people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Reference Asbring and Narvanen35 Our findings suggest such experiences have particularly powerful negative effects on mental health."

 

having your world turned upside down with all the usual financial pressures staying the same is not ever going to be beneficial to any ones short to medium term mental health . this is just common sense no reason to waste research funds .