Effect of Multidisciplinary Rehabilitative Interventions on Fatigue, Kinesiophobia, and Shortness of Breathing among Post-COVID-19 Patients

Background: Post-COVID-19 patients suffer from numerous psychological and physical problems that interfere with normal functioning and need rehabilitation services to overcome these problems. Aim: Determining the effect of multidisciplinary rehabilitative interventions on fatigue, dyspnea, and kinesophopia, among post-COVID-19 patients. Subjects and Methods: A quasi-experimental design was conducted on a sample of 100 adult patients who were admitted to the COVID-19 isolation department in a university hospital in the Menoufia governorate, Egypt. They were randomly assigned into two equal groups: The study group received multidisciplinary rehabilitative interventions, and the control group received usual hospital care. The following instruments were employed to gather data: A structured interview questionnaire, a knowledge assessment questionnaire, the Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS), The Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale, and a shortened version of the Kinesiophobia Tampa Scale for 11 items (TSK-11). Results: A highly significant diffriences was found between the two groups as regards the mean score of knowledge after the intervention (p= 0.000). Also, highly Significant statistical differences were found in the mean scores of CFS, the dyspnea scale and TSK-11 in favor of the study group when comparing the results of the two groups at three weeks and at six weeks after the intervention (p value < 0.001). Conclusion: The study has concluded that implementing multidisciplinary rehabilitative interventions have a significant role in lowering fatigue, dyspnea and kinesiophobia post-COVID-19. Recommendations: Comprehensive rehabilitative intervention shoulde be offered by a multidisciplinary team to improve patients' outcomes post-COVID-19.