Grant: Project Grant

About 35% of COVID-19 patients experience 'long COVID' (LC), which means they face at least one long-lasting COVID symptom (e.g. fatigue) 28 days or longer since they first became ill. Persons with LC (PWLC) feel left behind by the healthcare system (because we don't know a lot about LC yet) and socially excluded (because people are afraid that they are still infectious). Since PWLC also face physical and mental health challenges, this can all make it very hard for them to return to work and participate in social and community activities the way they used to. Rehabilitation (rehab) care is known to improve patients' physical and social functioning. However, most rehab for PWLC has been very focused on the physical aspects of recovery, while the psychological and social aspects of care have not receive a lot of attention. For our project, we want to learn more about PWLC's experiences with LC and how it affects their quality of life and ability to participate in activities that are important to them (e.g. employment). We also want to learn about family caregivers' experiences and needs since they play an important role in supporting PWLC. To do this, we will first ask PWLC to complete a survey asking them about their symptoms and how LC affects their quality of life. We will then interview LC patients, family caregivers, and healthcare providers (HCPs) to gain more detailed information about their experiences with LC, what kinds of support they need, and how rehab can help them to participate in the community and other social activities. The second stage of our project will bring together PWLC, caregivers, and HCPs to create a plan for how rehab can help imrpove community participation and quality of life for PWLC and their caregivers. Finally, we will bring together PWLC, caregivers, HCPs, and decision makers in a series of meetings to further improve the rehab plan and make it relevant for different places in Canada.