Intial research into
Long Covid
The first step in preparing for the interviews was to find out as much as possible about the Long Covid, through research. The most important findings are presented below, together with the results of related Assignment - 1.2.
What is Long Covid?
The question is not easy to answer, as there's no universally agreed-upon definition as of right now since the illness is fairly new and not fully researched. However, essentially it is a chronic, long-lasting condition, triggered by the same viruses that cause COVID-19. We talk about Long Covid when a patient experiences its symptoms for beyond 4 weeks. It is yet unknown, for how long the symptoms can persist and whether they are permanent.
What are the symptoms?
Again, the question does not have an easy answer, as there have been over 200 different symptoms that are said to be linked to Long Covid. That means every person can experience Long Covid very differently from another. Yet, some of them are more common than others.
The most common symptoms include:
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Fatigue
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Shortness of breath
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Muscle and joint pain
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Loss of smell and taste
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Mental fog
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Fever
Overall, in one study 54% of people with Long Covid said that the illness limits their daily activities at least to small extend.
How prevalent is Long Covid?
According to (rough) estimations made by the group, according to the available data, in the Netherlands alone there are about 350.000 people facing Long Covid. Although the demographics aspects are still being researched, Long Covid seems to be more prevalent among young people and women, compared to the rest of the population.
Assignment 1.1 findings
The resarch question, which was meant for guiding the group into a deeper, adcademic research related to the Assignment was "How can individuals with chronic COVID effectively plan their days while accounting for unexpected peaks and dips in workload, considering both their physical limitations and personal capacity within the context of their daily life?".
As the resarch question suggests, the three found pieces of literature were revolving around fatigue or taking breaks. The group was also given feedback for the entire search. The points of improvemet included: not explaining enough the tools used in search and structuring key concepts. Besides that the Group received a few minor remarks, that could be helpful to keep in my in the future, while conducting another literature searches.
The document is available in the Appendix.
