Covid-19 survivorship: a qualitative study of persistent symptoms or long-covid experienced by spinal cord injury survivors in BANGLADESH.

Abstract

Background: In terms of individual lived experiences, it is yet unknown how the COVID-19 outbreak has affected vulnerable populations of people, such as those living with spinal cord injury. Individuals living with spinal cord injury in Bangladesh who had survived a confirmed COVID-19 infection were invited to participate in this study to gain insight and understanding of their own lived experiences of long-COVID and the nature of symptoms experienced by these people. And also we want to understand how the Long-COVID has affected their lifestyles, as well as the lives of their families. Methodology: In this qualitative studywith a Phenomenological design,wepurposively sampled eight people living with spinal cord injury who had been admitted into the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed during the pandemic in Bangladesh. We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews in Bengali, which were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. An interview topic guide was used with questions focused on participants' experiences of COVID-19 and their perceptions of how it had impacted their lives. Data were gathered by interviews and analyzed manually. We conducted a thematic analysis by actively developing themes from the data. Results: Analysis revealed 5 themes and those themes are (1) Adaptation to Post-COVID condition and experiencing existing disability and comorbidities. (2) Pre- existing limitations in ambulation and activities of daily living. (3) Gaining experience of social isolation and lack of information and resources. (4) Experiencing negative effects and mental issues. (5) Experiencing social barriers strongly affects the new-normal life. Conclusion: During this study, I discovered Spinal Cord Injury and Long-COVID related to many bio-psycho-social problems.The biological Long-COVID and SCIrelated problems were fatigue fever, wheelchair-bound, difficulties in ambulation, and physical week.The Psychological problem was fear, anxiety, and mental stress.The Psychosocial problem was isolation. And the Social problem was the stigma. However, the key issue was that the participants denied their persistent symptoms, making it difficult to determine the participants' Long-COVID symptoms. Key words: SCI, COVID-19, Post COVID-19 Symptoms, Long-COVID, Qualitative study.