Experiences of People With Long COVID Accessing Rehabilitation Services: A Qualitative Study.
Daria St-Jean, Stephanie Haynes, Venezia Ficara and 6 others
People with long COVID described losing the ability to work, study, or maintain social connections.
The main barriers to reaching rehabilitation were referrals, cost, and professionals not understanding their condition. Those who received care rated it highly and valued coordinated, multidisciplinary support.
Key findings
1All 12 participants reported that long COVID affected their professional life and their leisure activities; 5 (41%) also reported reduced social participation, including giving up family visits.
2Barriers to accessing rehabilitation were widespread: 8 (66%) cited lack of awareness among healthcare professionals, 7 (58%) cited service shortages, and 5 (41%) each cited referral difficulties and financial constraints.
3Six participants (50%) expressed satisfaction with the rehabilitation services they received, and two (16%) specifically valued the multidisciplinary coordination between their professionals.
Still to come
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What it does not show
Twelve participants from a single city in Quebec; the authors note the sample did not fully reflect the female predominance seen in international long-COVID data, so the themes may not transfer to other populations or healthcare systems. Interviews were conducted by telephone, so no nonverbal cues were captured, which the authors acknowledge limits the depth of narrative data. Participants' own fatigue, brain fog, and concentration difficulties (hallmarks of long COVID) may have shaped what they could recall and articulate during the interview. The study captures experiences at one point in the pandemic (June–August 2023) in the Canadian public-healthcare context; service availability, referral pathways, and insurance coverage differ substantially in other settings. This is a qualitative study of experiences and perceptions; it does not measure whether rehabilitation improved symptoms, function, or quality of life.
Declared interests
Funded by the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation and Foundation Cité de la Santé. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 8-to-10 satisfaction scores as evidence that rehabilitation is effective for long COVID — this is a qualitative study of 12 people's experiences, not a trial measuring outcomes, and only 6 of the 12 participants actually received rehabilitation services. The themes describe what these patients found helpful and what blocked them; they do not establish that any specific treatment improved their condition.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →