Authors (including presenting author) :
Ng PKP(1), Chan YLD(1), Chan SMF(1), Hung CWS(1), Yip PYP(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Occupational Therapy Department, Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
The COVID-19 pandemic has induced social isolation, fear, uncertainty, and anxiety, causing mental stress individually and globally. People recovered from COVID-19 continue to have difficulties in physical, emotional and cognitive functioning. According to the survey conducted in Kowloon Hospital, patients recovered from COVID-19 reported numerous ongoing health effects, persisted symptoms and mental stress. Thus, we aimed to develop a post COVID-19 recovery program for psychiatric in-patients to support their recovery and optimize their occupational functions.
Objectives :
(1) to increase patients’ insight into the impact of COVID-19 on their functioning and mental health, (2) to enhance patients’ coping strategies for post COVID-19 health-related issues, (3) to facilitate discharge preparation and aftercare services arrangement, (4) to instill hope, enhance well-being, improve emotional state and cognitive function of patients.
Methodology :
One-group pretest-posttest design and convenient sampling were adopted. Mentally stable psychiatric in-patients in Kowloon Hospital recovered from COVID-19 and were referred to Occupational Therapy, were recruited. This program consisted of 5 sessions with content about COVID-19’s impact on people’s functioning, promoting physical, emotional and cognitive functioning, re-establishing a balanced lifestyle, resources related to COVID-19 recovery, and pre-discharge preparation. Hope Scale – Chinese Version (HS-CV), the Chinese version of the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (C-SWEMWBS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Hong Kong Version (HK-MoCA) were used for outcome measure. The results were analyzed by descriptive statistics, paired t-test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. A program evaluation form was used to collect patients’ feedback.
Result & Outcome :
15 patients were recruited from April 2022 to May 2022. Statistically significant improvement in scores were found in HS-CV (t= -5.83, p<0.01), C-SWEMWBS (t= -5.271, p<0.01), DASS (Z= -3.185, p=0.001) and HK-MoCA (t= -3.623, p<0.01) upon completion of the program. The results showed that patients’ hope, well-being, emotional state, and cognitive function were significantly improved. In program evaluation, all patients reported that this program could enhance their insight into the impact of COVID-19 on their functioning and mental health, enhance their coping strategies and increase their confidence to resume life functions after recovering from COVID-19. All of them showed positive feedback and satisfaction about this program and found this program useful to them and their family. This program is suggested to be conducted regularly for in-patients and out-patients with effectiveness evaluation in the future.
