ABSTRACT
Health behaviours and needs of people with COPD during COVID-19 pandemic: a document analysis Abstract. Background: The government's guidelines affected people with COPD on different levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to belonging to a group of particularly vulnerable persons, they had to adapt their health behaviours, in particular physical activity, to recommendations provided in order to prevent negative effects on disease progression. There is little knowledge regarding how this group of patients coped with these challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE: To describe the health behaviours and needs people with COPD convey during nursing phone consultations and which nursing interventions have been carried out. METHODS: A document analysis of 50 nursing phone consultations was performed. The data were summarised descriptively and analysed thematically. RESULTS: The main topics were the adaptation of physical activity, the implementation of the recommendations to the individual life situation, the detection of a COVID-19 infection and questions concerning the planning of medical appointments. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic poses additional challenges to the disease management of people with COPD. The increased need for care brought on by the pandemic was able to be met by the knowledge provided in the nursing phone consultations. What remains to be established is what role the consultations play in a sustainable change in behaviour and in dealing with negative emotions.