ABSTRACT
Background: Understanding of Long COVID has advanced through patient-led initiatives. However, research about barriers to accessing Long COVID services is limited. This study aimed to better understand the need for, access to, and quality of, Long COVID services. We explored health needs and experiences of services, including ability of services to address needs.Methods: Our study was informed by the Levesque et al’s (2013) “conceptual framework of access to health care.” We used Interpretive Description, a qualitative approach partly aimed at informing clinical decisions. We recruited participants across five settings. Participants engaged in one-time, semi-structured, virtual interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. We used reflexive thematic analysis. Best practice to ensure methodological rigour was employed.Results: Three key themes were generated from 56 interviews. The first theme illustrated the rollercoaster-like nature of participants’ Long COVID symptoms and the resulting impact on function and health. The second theme highlighted participants’ attempts to access Long COVID services. Guidance received from healthcare professionals and self-advocacy impacted initial access. When navigating Long COVID services within the broader system, participants encountered barriers to access around stigma; appointment logistics; testing and ‘normal’ results; and financial precarity and affordability of services. The third theme illuminated common factors participants liked and disliked about Long COVID services. We framed each sub-theme as the key lesson (stemming from all likes and dislikes) that, if acted upon, the health system can use to improve the quality of Long COVID services. This provides tangible ways to improve the system based directly on what we heard from participants.Conclusion: With Long COVID services continuously evolving, our findings can inform decision makers within the health system to better understand the lived experiences of Long COVID and tailor services and policies appropriately.
ABSTRACT
Even prior to COVID-19, biosecurity was a significant issue for tourism, especially at national borders. Since personal nonpharmaceutical interventions can be effective for an individual’s health and psychological resilience during a pandemic, understanding tourists’ biosecurity behavior is essential given the broader relationship with traveling during COVID-19. However, existing research has not explicitly examined this relationship during any pandemic, nor has it explored potential long-term implications. To fill this gap, this study built and tested a theoretically comprehensive framework including prosocial behavior, ethics, perception, intervention, resilience, biosecurity behavior, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to COVID-19. Results reveal that prosocial behavior and perception have significant impacts on intervention, which influences resilience and biosecurity behavior. Resilience has an effect on biosecurity behavior. Three SDG groups have different effects on the relationship between intervention and biosecurity behavior. Deep learning sheds light on tourist’s biosecurity practices during COVID-19 and when international travel resumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Travel Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)