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How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany

INTRODUCTION: Many people experience persistent or new-onset symptoms such as fatigue or cognitive problems after an acute infection with COVID-19. This phenomenon, known as long COVID, impacts physical and mental wellbeing, and may affect perceived quality of life and occupational perspectives like...

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Autores principales: Schmachtenberg, Tim, Müller, Frank, Kranz, Jennifer, Dragaqina, Anita, Wegener, Greta, Königs, Gloria, Roder, Sascha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10034079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36969629
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1155193
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author Schmachtenberg, Tim
Müller, Frank
Kranz, Jennifer
Dragaqina, Anita
Wegener, Greta
Königs, Gloria
Roder, Sascha
author_facet Schmachtenberg, Tim
Müller, Frank
Kranz, Jennifer
Dragaqina, Anita
Wegener, Greta
Königs, Gloria
Roder, Sascha
author_sort Schmachtenberg, Tim
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Many people experience persistent or new-onset symptoms such as fatigue or cognitive problems after an acute infection with COVID-19. This phenomenon, known as long COVID, impacts physical and mental wellbeing, and may affect perceived quality of life and occupational perspectives likewise. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how people with long COVID experience health-related restrictions in their daily life and their occupational situation, and to identify key challenges they face. METHODS: Guided qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 people with long COVID. The interviews were transcribed according to Dresing/Pehl and Kuckartz and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Afterward, a systematic comparison of the data and a reflection under consideration of lifeworld-theoretical approaches (Berger and Luckmann) were carried out. RESULTS: The interviews revealed that many participants have severe symptoms which strongly impair them in perform daily and work-related activities, and in their personal interests. Many interviewees already reach their stress limit during routine household activities or childcare. Of the 25 participants, 19 experienced limitations in pursuing leisure activities, and 10 of the 23 interviewees with jobs reported being on sick leave for several months. Several respondents who had vocational reintegration are still affected by ongoing symptoms that affect their work performance considerably. This leads to uncertainty, role conflicts, a decline in social contacts, and decreased incomes, which contribute to an impairment in their quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the huge need for specific support for people with long COVID in different areas of life. To prevent people with long COVID from finding themselves in social and economic precarity, decision-makers should develop strategies to systematically support them in their sustainable reintegration into the workforce. The focus should be on creating long COVID-sensitive workplaces, compensating for decreased incomes, and improving access to relief services such as vocational reintegration. We argue, that a shift of perspectives is necessary and that long COVID should be considered rather as a “social disease” with considerably impairments in the social life of those affected. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study is registered in the German register for clinical trials (DRKS00026007).
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spelling pubmed-100340792023-03-24 How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany Schmachtenberg, Tim Müller, Frank Kranz, Jennifer Dragaqina, Anita Wegener, Greta Königs, Gloria Roder, Sascha Front Public Health Public Health INTRODUCTION: Many people experience persistent or new-onset symptoms such as fatigue or cognitive problems after an acute infection with COVID-19. This phenomenon, known as long COVID, impacts physical and mental wellbeing, and may affect perceived quality of life and occupational perspectives likewise. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how people with long COVID experience health-related restrictions in their daily life and their occupational situation, and to identify key challenges they face. METHODS: Guided qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 people with long COVID. The interviews were transcribed according to Dresing/Pehl and Kuckartz and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Afterward, a systematic comparison of the data and a reflection under consideration of lifeworld-theoretical approaches (Berger and Luckmann) were carried out. RESULTS: The interviews revealed that many participants have severe symptoms which strongly impair them in perform daily and work-related activities, and in their personal interests. Many interviewees already reach their stress limit during routine household activities or childcare. Of the 25 participants, 19 experienced limitations in pursuing leisure activities, and 10 of the 23 interviewees with jobs reported being on sick leave for several months. Several respondents who had vocational reintegration are still affected by ongoing symptoms that affect their work performance considerably. This leads to uncertainty, role conflicts, a decline in social contacts, and decreased incomes, which contribute to an impairment in their quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the huge need for specific support for people with long COVID in different areas of life. To prevent people with long COVID from finding themselves in social and economic precarity, decision-makers should develop strategies to systematically support them in their sustainable reintegration into the workforce. The focus should be on creating long COVID-sensitive workplaces, compensating for decreased incomes, and improving access to relief services such as vocational reintegration. We argue, that a shift of perspectives is necessary and that long COVID should be considered rather as a “social disease” with considerably impairments in the social life of those affected. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study is registered in the German register for clinical trials (DRKS00026007). Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-03-09 /pmc/articles/PMC10034079/ /pubmed/36969629 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1155193 Text en Copyright © 2023 Schmachtenberg, Müller, Kranz, Dragaqina, Wegener, Königs and Roder. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Schmachtenberg, Tim
Müller, Frank
Kranz, Jennifer
Dragaqina, Anita
Wegener, Greta
Königs, Gloria
Roder, Sascha
How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany
title How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany
title_full How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany
title_fullStr How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany
title_full_unstemmed How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany
title_short How do long COVID patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? Results of a qualitative interview study in Germany
title_sort how do long covid patients perceive their current life situation and occupational perspective? results of a qualitative interview study in germany
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10034079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36969629
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1155193
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