Long-term Impact of Psychological Rehabilitation on Isolated Hospitalization Patients with COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of a psychological rehabilitation program that was effective on anxiety, depression, and quality of sleep in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. DESIGN: This is longitudinal study. 13 patients in the experimental group who received a psychological rehabilitation program during hospitalization and 16 patients in the control group who received conservative treatment completed the questionnaire 6 months after discharge. Questionnaires are the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Visual Analysis Scale (VAS), and the Korean version of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI-K). RESULTS: The VAS for depression significantly improved in the experimental group compared with control group at discharge (E = -2.40, p < 0.001) and follow-up (E = -3.36, p < 0.001). The SDS and PHQ-9 scores significantly improved at discharge (E = -4.05, p = 0.01 and E = -2.29, p = 0.01) but not at follow-up (E = -4.64, p = 0.12 and E = -1.81, p = 0.22). There are no significant interactions for VAS for anxiety (E = -0.27, p = 0.79), SAS scores (E = -1.48, p = 0.51), and insomnia (E = -0.69, p = 0.63) scores during the follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological rehabilitation showed a significant long-term reduction in depression, but not in anxiety. Therefore, continuous intervention and management of mental health are required after discharge.