This study took place at the Cantonal Hospital St.Gallen, a tertiary care hospital in Eastern Switzerland, and included data collection between November 2021 and January 2024. During this time span, the same licensed psychotherapist conducted the group psychotherapy six times in total with a maximum of nine patients each. Each of the six groups had one-hour group therapy sessions weekly within eight consecutive weeks. During the study period, the group psychotherapy was part of a more comprehensive treatment for long COVID as all patients primarily received active pacing therapy.
The investigators implemented cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) elements into group psychotherapy and focused on fatigue, insomnia, depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, psychotraumatology, and quality of life as psychosomatic outcome measures (pre- and post-interventional).
