Investigating Long Covid: A qualitative study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating Long Covid: A qualitative study
IRAS ID
314985
Contact name
Victoria Blinkhorn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool John Moores University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 5 days
Research summary
‘Long covid’ is a term used to describe symptoms of Covid-19 that persist beyond the acute illness. The scale of the covid-19 pandemic means that even if a small proportion of people infected with covid have prolonged symptoms, this translates to millions of people worldwide. People with long covid experience an array of persistent and fluctuating symptoms that include fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction and general everyday functioning. Despite preliminary guidance from multiple sources there is not yet a consistent approach to diagnosis, management and follow-up of patients with long-covid. The patient experience is a crucial stage in developing services and in measuring outcomes that involve patient accounts. It is not only a way to involve patients, but essential to capture the minutiae of the lived experience in a way that complements and builds on clinician reports.
The initial study will involve interviews with both health care professionals (e.g., service leads, clinicians) involved in the care and running of long covid and support services as well as patients experiencing persistent long-term symptoms (>4 weeks post covid) and have been clinically diagnosed with long covid. Specifically, we will explore patients experience of long covid and support services. Additionally, Service leads will be asked about their experiences of the challenges of providing care for long covid patients and their recommendations for better patient care. Exploring the perspective of clinicians is particularly important as these individuals see the commissioned services from both professional and vicarious patient perspectives, thus represent an important wealth of expertise to inform service design and evaluation.
The ultimate aim and objective of this study is to therefore explore the lived experience of those suffering from long covid and to gain a rich understanding of the current support services, in the hope that findings can inform future service development.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0039
Date of REC Opinion
23 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion