Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
Conditions
Keywords
Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome, group therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, Spanish-speaking
Brief summary
The Harnessing Optimism and Perseverance in the Face of Long COVID (HOPE-LC) program, created by Drs. Eric Watson and Amelia Hicks, is a group therapy model designed to foster resilience, adjustment, and coping skills for those living with chronic Long COVID. HOPE-LC\ Español provides a culturally and linguistically adapted version for Spanish-speaking individuals in Queens, developed with input from Spanish-speaking clinicians, Long COVID experts, and people with lived experience. Partnering with H+H/Elmhurst and H+H/Queens, the project aims to recruit 25 participants and evaluate program feasibility and preliminary efficacy.
Detailed description
The Harnessing Optimism and Perseverance in the Face of Long COVID (HOPE-LC) program, developed by Drs. Eric Watson (PI) and Amelia Hicks (co-I), is a 12-week online group therapy program tailored specifically to living with Long COVID as a chronic condition. HOPE-LC provides community and hope; fostering resilience, adjustment, and critical coping strategies in the face of this debilitating chronic condition. Since its inception in 2024, the HOPE-LC groups have engaged 20 patients, emphasizing the need for chronic Long COVID therapeutic interventions. Through HOPE-LC-Espanol the researchers will translate and adapt the HOPE-LC program into Spanish and expand HOPE-LC's reach to underserved Spanish-speaking communities in Queens and NYC. The aims are: (1) To translate and culturally adapt the HOPE-LC program for Spanish-speaking patients in collaboration with the Advisory Board of Spanish-speaking clinicians, Long COVID experts, and individuals with Long COVID lived experience; (2) In collaboration with the partners at H+H/Elmhurst and H+H/Queens, to conduct targeted recruitment to ensure the researchers are engaging specifically with local Hispanic/Latinx communities in Queens; and (3) To complete the HOPE-LC\ Español program for 25 Spanish-speaking individuals experiencing Long COVID within the local Queens community. The researchers will evaluate program feasibility and treatment success to inform future scalability and sustainability as a clinical program.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALHOPE-LC~Espanol
12-week online group therapy program grounded in principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and tailored specifically to living with Long COVID as a chronic condition. HOPE-LC provides community and hope; fostering resilience, adjustment, and critical coping strategies in the face of this debilitating chronic condition.
Sponsors
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Masking description
Single arm
Intervention model description
Single arm pre-post design. Focus is on feasibility with preliminary efficacy as secondary focus.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Age 18 years or older. * Speaks and understands Spanish at a level that allows active participation in group-based study procedures. * Self-reported history of Long COVID/post-COVID condition of any severity or duration, including ongoing emotional or cognitive symptoms affecting daily functioning or a medical professional has diagnosed you with a Long COVID/post-COVID condition of any severity or duration, including ongoing emotional or cognitive symptoms. * Ability to participate in group sessions either in-person or via telehealth (Zoom). * Willingness and capacity to provide informed consent.
Exclusion criteria
* Presence of severe psychiatric conditions that would preclude participation in group therapy (e.g., active psychosis, suicidal intent requiring immediate intervention). * Inability to communicate in Spanish sufficiently to engage meaningfully in group sessions. * Cognitive or physical impairments prevent participation in group sessions or completion of surveys, without available accommodations. * Concurrent participation in another conflicting interventional trial targeting Long COVID symptoms.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment rate | Throughout the study period, 12 weeks | Number of eligible participants screened and enrolled by referral source |
| Retention rate | Throughout the study period, 12 weeks | Number of participants completing the intervention (defined as attending at least 8 of 12 sessions) |
| Number of sessions participants attended | Throughout the study period, 12 weeks | Feasibility measured via participant attendance |
| Number of completed surveys | Throughout the study period, 12 weeks | Feasibility measured via number of surveys completed from participant follow-up and study procedures. |
| Patient Satisfaction | Post-treatment (Week 12) | Post-treatment survey assessing participant satisfaction with HOPE-LC\~Español. Items are on a 5-point Likert Scale evaluated agreement to statements about their experience in the program (e.g., feeling heard, learning practical strategies, and willingness to recommend the program). The total score range is 5 - 40, with higher ratings indicating greater satisfaction. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DePaul Symptom Questionnaire | Baseline; 6 weeks, 12 weeks | The DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ) is a validated tool to assess symptoms, frequency and severity of various symptoms of fatigue and other neurological impairment. Total score range 0-100, with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity and functional impairment. |
| Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) | Baseline; 6 weeks, 12 weeks | The BIPQ assesses cognitive and emotional representations of illness in 8 items + 1 open-ended causal item. Total score range is 0-80, higher scores mean a more negative perception of illness. |
| Valued Based Living Questionnaire (VLQ) | Baseline; 6 weeks, 12 weeks | Assesses alignment between personal values and daily actions. Two ratings per domain: (1) Importance (1-10) and (2) Consistency with actions (1-10). Total score range is between 4-40. Higher consistency scores reflect greater valued living (better outcome); lower scores reflect minimal valued living (worse outcome). |
| Modified COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19-YRSm) | Baseline; 6 weeks, 12 weeks | The C19-YRSm is a 17-item self-report scale designed to assess the impact of post-COVID symptoms. Items are rated on a scale from 0 (none of this symptom) to 3 (extremely severe level or impact). The scale includes four subscales: Symptom Severity (Questions 1-10; score range: 0-30) Functional Disability (Questions 11-15; score range: 0-15) Other Symptoms (Question 16; score range: 0-25) Overall Health (Question 17; score range: 0-10) Full scale from 0-80. Higher scores indicate greater symptom severity and functional impairment. |
| Patient Health Questionnaire-8 Item (PHQ-8) | Baseline; 6 weeks, 12 weeks | Patient health questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) is a multipurpose instrument for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression. PHQ-8 is an 8-item instrument. Each question is rated on a scale of 0 to 3, total score scale from 0 - 24. Lower scores indicate minimal depression (better outcome) and higher scores indicate severe depression (worse outcome). |
| Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Item (GAD-7) | Baseline; 6 weeks, 12 weeks | This is a 7-item measure that asks participants to rate the frequency with which they have been bothered by anxiety symptoms within the past two weeks on a scale ranging from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"). Total scores range from 0-21, with higher scores indicating greater severity of generalized anxiety symptoms. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTEric Watson, PhD
CONTACTAmelia Hicks, PhD
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOREric Watson
Icahn School of Medicine
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORAmelia Hicks, PhD
Icahn School of Medicine
Outcome results
None listed