Occupational therapy-based self-management education in persons with post-COVID-19 condition related fatigue: a feasibility study with a pre-post design.

PURPOSE: Persons with post-COVID condition are a growing population requiring support returning to everyday life. Energy management education (EME) is a group self-management intervention based on energy conservation and management strategies delivered by occupational therapists. Data on the effectiveness of EME in persons with long COVID-related fatigue still need to be provided. This study aims to investigate procedural and methodological parameters to plan a future study analyzing the effectiveness of EME in individuals with post-COVID-19 conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pre-post design was used. The procedural data was collected regarding eligibility, reasons for participation decline, dropout, and follow-up rates. Changes in self-efficacy in using energy management strategies, fatigue impact, competency in daily activities, and quality of life were collected three times. Implemented behavior strategies at five months from EME were documented. RESULTS: During five months, 17 of 30 eligible participants were included in the study. No dropouts were registered during the intervention period. The follow-up response rate was 70%. The effect size was large in three out of four outcomes post-intervention, with a tendency to increase at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the feasibility of study procedures and reported promising effect sizes for EME that should be further researched.

Persons with post-COVID condition are a growing population requiring support returning to everyday life.Energy management education (EME) is a group self-management intervention feasible in persons with long COVID-related fatigue.The data showed a large effect size in fatigue impact, self-efficacy in performing energy management strategies, and competency in daily activities.

[Work after Spinal Cord Injury - Outpatient Data from a Rehabilitation Clinic for Paraplegiology]. / Arbeitstätigkeit nach einer Rückenmarksläsion ­ Daten aus dem Ambulatorium einer paraplegiologischen Rehabilitationsklinik.

AIM: This study investigated factors which influence work after a spinal cord lesion using routinely collected outpatient data including an ICF-based questionnaire. METHODS: The retrospective analysis was based on a sample of 290 outpatients with chronic spinal cord lesions of whom 43% reported to work. 15 factors possibly affecting occupational activity were evaluated by bivariate analyses and multivariable regression modelling. RESULTS: Negative associations were identified between working activities and the factors "age at time of spinal cord injury" (OR: 0.96, 95%-KI: 0.93-0.99, p<0.002) and "problems with covering distances" (OR: 0.44, 95%-KI: 0.25-0.79, p<0.006). A similar tendency was observed for "problems with shopping". CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that age and aspects of mobility are important influencing factors for resumption of work after a spinal cord lesion. Therefore, mobility should be considered as an important target for interventions in long-term rehabilitation.