ArticlePloS one2025
Development of an expectation management intervention for patients with Long COVID: A focus group study with affected patients.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Patient and Professional Perspectives on Long COVID: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Synthesis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of two interventions to optimize expectations in psychosomatic rehabilitation of post-COVID patients: study protocol for an integrative approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA significant number of individuals who have contracted SARS-CoV-2 report persistent somatic symptoms after the infection has resolved. Evidence-based treatment options for Long COVID are lacking to date. To ensure that an expectation management intervention, designed for the research project SOMA.COV, addresses relevant patient needs as well as to promote treatment acceptance and adherence, a participatory approach was chosen.
objectiveThe aim of the present study was to explore needs and wishes of patients with Long COVID regarding the preliminary version of an expectation management intervention and to thereby inform the further development of the treatment manual.
methodsTwenty-two patients affected by Long COVID participated in one of four focus groups in June and July 2023. Participants were presented with the draft content of a four-session expectation management intervention. Feedback was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis.
resultsThirteen themes relating to the main components of the intervention manual were developed. Large parts of the manual received overall positive feedback, including psychoeducation on the biopsychosocial etiology of the condition, elements of cognitive restructuring, and an imagination exercise. Patients' response to the presented vicious circle of fear and a behavior change exercise was mixed. Modifications to the manual were made in response to patients' feedback.
conclusionPatients with Long COVID provided positive feedback on an expectation management intervention while also highlighting important adaptations necessary for this patient group. The study results informed the finalization of the treatment manual within the SOMA.COV project, which investigates the effectiveness of this intervention for patients with Long COVID in a three-armed randomized controlled trial.
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