Lotankar Yojana, Cheshire Anna, Ridge Damien, Chew-Graham Carolyn, Smyth Nina, Knowles Claudia R, Gopal Dipesh, Kingstone Tom, Dawson Shoba
Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK.
School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Keele University, Keele, UK.
Health Expect. 2025 Oct;28(5):e70413. doi: 10.1111/hex.70413.
Long Covid is the patient-preferred term to describe persistent symptoms experienced following an acute Covid-19 infection. The severity and unpredictable nature of long Covid symptoms can affect every aspect of an individual's life. Under-represented groups such as ethnic minorities and lower socio-economic groups are disproportionately affected by long Covid and often face challenges in accessing healthcare and additional support. This study employed an intracategorical intersectionality approach to explore how the diverse experiences of long Covid among people from ethnic minority backgrounds are influenced by complexities like gender and socio-economic factors.
A secondary analysis of 31 semi-structured interviews with individuals with long Covid from ethnic minority backgrounds, using reflexive thematic analysis.
Findings are presented around the themes: (i) gender and ethnicity; (ii) socio-economic factors and illness experience; and (iii) comorbidities, disabilities and living with long Covid. Participants describe challenges in gaining support, including from health professionals, family and communities, but these challenges were gendered to a degree, with women and men describing distinctive difficulties. Financial capacity was considered important in determining the type and extent of accessible care. Support from employers also influenced participant's ability to take adequate time to recover and return to work. The interplay of comorbidities with long Covid could heighten the risk of more severe symptoms and complicate help-seeking for -and management of -long Covid.
An intracategorical intersectional exploration of lived experience is necessary to reveal the nuances in individual experiences of long Covid. Findings will be of interest to health professionals and researchers in supporting their understanding of intersectional experiences of their patients.
The HI-COVE study was informed throughout by patient and expert advisory groups composed of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds living with long Covid, their carers and professionals interested in this topic.
“长新冠”是患者更倾向使用的术语，用于描述新冠病毒急性感染后出现的持续症状。长新冠症状的严重程度和不可预测性会影响个人生活的方方面面。少数族裔和社会经济地位较低等代表性不足的群体受长新冠的影响尤为严重，在获得医疗保健和额外支持方面往往面临挑战。本研究采用了范畴内交叉性方法，以探讨少数族裔背景人群长新冠的多样经历如何受到性别和社会经济因素等复杂性的影响。
对31名少数族裔背景的长新冠患者进行的半结构化访谈进行二次分析，采用反思性主题分析法。
研究结果围绕以下主题呈现：（i）性别与种族；（ii）社会经济因素与疾病经历；（iii）合并症、残疾与长新冠共存。参与者描述了在获得支持方面面临的挑战，包括来自医疗专业人员、家庭和社区的支持，但这些挑战在一定程度上存在性别差异，男性和女性描述了不同的困难。经济能力被认为在决定可获得的护理类型和程度方面很重要。雇主的支持也影响了参与者有足够时间康复和重返工作的能力。合并症与长新冠的相互作用可能会增加出现更严重症状的风险，并使寻求长新冠的帮助和管理变得复杂。
对生活经历进行范畴内交叉性探索对于揭示长新冠个体经历的细微差别是必要的。研究结果将有助于医疗专业人员和研究人员更好地理解患者的交叉性经历。
HI-COVE研究自始至终都得到了患者和专家咨询小组提供的信息，该小组由患有长新冠的少数族裔背景个人、他们的护理人员以及对该主题感兴趣的专业人员组成。
