Since the beginning of the pandemic, around 30 million people in Germany alone have fallen ill with coronavirus one or more times. It is estimated that up to 20% of those affected suffer from long-term effects (also known as "long-COVID" or "post-COVID"). These are characterised by shortness of breath, exhaustion, low resilience or concentration problems. In addition to the health consequences, this often means an impairment of quality of life in the social and professional environment for those affected.
As part of the "ReCOVer" project (short for "Participatory needs assessment of post-COVID sufferers for successful reintegration into working life"), HNU Professor Dr Johannes Schobel and Daniel Hieber from the DigiHealth Institute, together with researchers from Kempten University of Applied Sciences, investigated the ways in which post-COVID sufferers can be successfully reintegrated into everyday working life and the resources they can use to do so. To this end, the scientists evaluated external offers, obstacles, stressors and protectors as well as personal coping strategies for successful reintegration. The project's practice partners, the Biohotel Eggensberger, the Klinikverbund Allgäu / Kempten and the Alpcura Fachkliniken Allgäu, provided support in recruiting the survey participants.
The "ReCOVer" team came to the conclusion that both the ability to deal with one's own illness and an appropriately adapted workplace are decisive factors for successful reintegration.
The project was supported by funding from the DRV Bund.
An overview of the results of the research project and possible solutions has just been published in the open access journal "Frontiers of Public Health".
To the publication
Straßburger, Claudia; Hieber, Daniel; Karthan, Maximilian; Jüster, Markus; Schobel, Johannes (2023): Return to work after Post-COVID: describing affected employees' perceptions of personal resources, organisational offerings and care pathways. In: Frontiers in public health 11, p. 1282507. Online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1282507/full
Contact partner
Prof. Dr. Johannes Schobel
