Living With Long COVID: LONGCOVID-EXPERIENCE Qualitative Study

Background: One in ten people infected with COVID-19 presents persistent COVID, which consists of the presence of symptoms three months after the acute manifestations of COVID-19 and their persistence for at least two months, without being explained by an alternative diagnosis. The characteristics and clinical approach to persistent COVID syndrome are fairly well known, but not what the experience of people with persistent COVID is in relation to their daily life, their work life, and their experience with the healthcare received. Objective: to understand the experience of patients with persistent COVID in relation to the disease, the health care received and re-entry into the world of work

Methods: Qualitative, descriptive, phenomenological study, based on individual interviews. The study protocol will be registered in Clinicaltrials.gov. People with persistent COVID treated at the Parc Taulí Hospital will be included. Sampling will be by convenience, purposive and snowball and the sample size will be determined by data saturation. Semi-structured individual or group interviews will be conducted and the data will be analyzed following a reflective thematic analysis (Brawn and Clarke). The preliminary report will be triangulated with some participants and with the results obtained from a scoping review carried out by the research team.