Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Purpose: Long COVID (LC) is a novel condition impacting 35% of people who contracted the acute COVID-19 virus [1]. Our data supports that living with LC not only impacts one's physical health, it also impacts their psychosocial well-being, creating disruptions in their activities of daily living. The purpose of the proposed project is to co-design and develop an evidence- and experience-informed 'LC Education and Awareness Hub' that addresses the psychosocial needs of LC stakeholders across the continuum of care (including, people with long COVID (PWLC), caregivers (CG), health and social care providers (HSCPs), insurance and disability workers, employers, and members of the public). Relevance: The proposed project aims to increase education and awareness of LC and optimize needed rehabilitation supports across the continuum of health and social care provisions (acute, hospital, in/out-patient, and community-based). Methods and Analysis: 26 stakeholders (n=12 PWLC, n-4 CG and n=10 HSCPs) were recruited to participate in 8 virtual co-design [2] workshops (May to July 2023). During the workshops, participants were engaged in a series of brainstorming, discussion, and consensus-building activities that collaboratively worked towards co-designing the 'LC hub'. Outcome(s): Four key areas were collectively identified as needing to be addressed within the 'LC hub': (1) education, (2) advocacy and public health messaging, (3) health and social care reform and care integration, and (4) peer support. For each key area, meaningful knowledge translation outcomes were identified to be mobilized and disseminated into health and social care practice and policy to better support all stakeholders involved. Conclusion: This research has the potential to raise awareness of LC at a national and international level, identify the network of support needed for LC care provisions, and address the specific needs of LC stakeholders across the continuum of health and social care provisions.