The Relationship Between Long COVID Symptom Severity and Distress
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Psychological and Social Factors Influencing Wellbeing and Distress in Long COVID
IRAS ID
334841
Contact name
Ronan McGrath
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 19 days
Research summary
There is growing evidence highlighting the impact of ‘Long COVID’, with evidence showing that many people with Long COVID experience multiple issues, physically and psychologically. This current study will aim to explore some of the factors involved in how people experience and cope with the burden of Long COVID symptoms, and how this then influences their psychological wellbeing.
Factors this study will focus on will be ‘helplessness', specifically how helpless or uncontrollable someone thinks their situation with their illness is. Another factor will be the influence of how much a person gets attached to their thoughts and takes their thoughts at face value. This study will explore how these two factors in particular can potentially lead to a person experiencing more symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as lower wellbeing generally.
This is useful as it can indicate specifically how mental health professionals can best support people struggling with the condition. There are different types of therapies which work in different ways and some therapies may work better depending on the particular issues people are experiencing. This study can help by showing which therapies may work well to support those with Long COVID.
This study will also be looking at the role of social support, exploring if having more social support (such as people someone could rely on in a crisis) may potentially lessen the impact of some of these issues. For example, someone with more social support may feel less helpless or they may be less attached to their thoughts despite their severe Long COVID symptoms.
To explore these outlined factors, questionnaires will be used to collect the data at one point in time. Participants will be recruited from online through social media and through services such as NHS services and third sector services such as Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland. Participants will read the participant information sheet and will need to consent in order to participate. For those who are eligible and consent, participation involves a fifteen minute survey at just one point in time.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/NE/0053
Date of REC Opinion
15 Mar 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion