A short Mindfulness intervention in telemedicine in severe post-COVID-19 patients

The present pilot randomised controlled trial compared the impact of a Mindfulness-based brief intervention conducted in telemedicine (n = 20) for a period of 5-6 sessions of 45 minutes each, for a total commitment of 3 weeks, to a wait-list control (n = 20), involving people who have been previously tested positive for COVID-19, admitted to intensive care or reanimation and subsequently in respiratory rehabilitation following negativization. The General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Impact of Event Scale (IES), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), State Shame and Guilt Scale-8, Peritraumatic Perceptions of Fear and life threat, Psychological General Well-being Index (PGWBI), respiratory functions, oxygen saturation, haemogasanalysis were detected at baseline, 3 weeks, and 3 months. Semi-structured interviews conducted according to the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach detected the participants' emotional experiences, expectations, and beliefs about their experience of illness. This study showed the potential of an affordable and widely accessible Mindfulness-based brief intervention in clinical practice, offering a view of hospital-territory continuity following the acute phase of COVID-19 disease.