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

Abstract

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.