Resilience resources and coping strategies of COVID-19 female long haulers: A qualitative study. 2022 Aghaei et al

Background: Female long haulers deal with persistent post-acute COVID-19 symptoms that have serious health implications. This study aimed to identify resilience resources at multiple socio-ecological levels for female long haulers and describe how resilience resources affect their responses to long COVID.

Methods: Purposive sampling was adopted to recruit participants through social media from April to June 2021 followed by 15 semi-structured interviews. An inductive analytical approach was adopted to categorize themes by open and axial coding that were verified by peer review.

Results: Female long haulers relied on resources at various socio-ecological levels to foster their resilience in response to long COVID. At the individual level, they utilized cognitive and emotional resources to increase knowledge, learn new skills, set goals, and manage emotions; behavioral resources (e.g., internal motivation and executive functioning) to perform physical, creative, and recreational activities, and adopt healthier eating habits; and spiritual resources to perform spiritual rituals and connect with God. At the social level, the support from existing relationships and/or online social support groups enhanced their social identity and provided material and informational resources. At the health systems level, the guidance from counselors and physicians and availability of clinics, medicines, and health equipment assisted them in symptom management and medication adherence.

Conclusion: The resilience of female long haulers can be enhanced through (1) offering financial and health-related resources, (2) developing online social-support groups, (3) counseling and care service training for healthcare professionals, and (4) implementing more psychosocial interventions by labor organizations.

Open access, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.970378/full

 

There's no giant red flags in this paper but it just feels weird. This was a weird phrase:

They need to recognize that PEM is a real barrier to things like exercise.

What makes me most uncomfortable is how the authors only ever discuss how the individual responds to this, without mentioning the broader challenges long haulers face. People with LC are resorting to resilience strategies because there are no treatments yet. PwLC also face systemic ableism in healthcare like pwME, so discussion of medical neglect and abuse as a reason to need coping strategies might be warranted. It seems common for papers to do this though. They only discuss the very narrow field the author is writing about, leaving out any broader context.