Persistent COVID-19 symptoms (long COVID) may bring challenges to long haulers’ social lives. Females may endure more profound impacts given their special social roles and existing structural inequality. This study explores the effects of long COVID on the social life of female long haulers. We conducted semi-structured interviews via Zoom between April and June 2021 with 15 female long haulers in the United States, purposely recruited from Facebook and Slack groups and organization websites related to long COVID. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with consent. The interview data were managed using MAXQDA and examined by thematic analysis. Long COVID negatively affected female long haulers’ social lives by causing physical limitations, economic issues, altered social relationships, social roles’ conflicts, and social stigma. Long COVID prevented female long haulers’ recovery process. Physical limitations altered their perceptions on body, and family–work conflicts caused tremendous stress. They also experienced internalized stigma and job insecurities. This study provides insights into challenges that COVID-19 female long haulers could face in their return to normal social life, underscoring the vulnerability of females affected by long COVID due to significant alterations in their social lives. Shifting to new methods of communication, especially social media, diminished the adverse effects of long COVID (e.g., social isolation).

Introduction: Persistent COVID-19 symptoms (long COVID) may bring numerous challenges to long haulers' social lives. Women may have to endure more profound impacts given their social roles and existing structural inequality. This study aims to explore the impacts of long COVID on various aspects of social life among female long haulers.Methods: We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with female long haulers in the United States purposely recruited from Facebook groups, Slack group, and organization websites. The interviews were audio recorded after appropriate consent and transcribed verbatim. Inductive approach was applied in thematic analysis, which consists of six stages: becoming familiar with data, developing initial codes, extracting themes, refining themes, labeling themes, and reporting. The MAXQDA software was used in data analysis.Results: Participants reported persistent symptoms that negatively affected their social lives in many ways. The main impacts included physical limitation, financial hardship, social relationship, conflict of social roles, and social stigma. Negative effects of long COVID hindered female long haulers’ recovery process. Social isolation, COVID-19 associated stigma, and conflicts of social roles cause tremendous stress. Employers’ support and social media usage may play positive role in their coping with impacts of long COVID on their social life.Conclusion: Existing policies and intervention programs need to be adapted to address the challenges and barriers that long haulers face in returning to normal social life, especially for females. Tailored social life-related recommendations and social support are needed for female long haulers.

IntroductionAdvanced oral cancer and its ensuing treatment engenders significant morbidity and mortality. Patients are often elderly with significant comorbidities. Toxicities associated with surgical resection can be devastating and they are often highlighted by patients as impactful. Given the potential for suboptimal oncological and functional outcomes in this vulnerable patient population, promotion and performance of shared decision making (SDM) is crucial.Decision aids (DAs) are useful instruments for facilitating the SDM process by presenting patients with up-to-date evidence regarding risks, benefits and the possible postoperative course. Importantly, DAs also help elicit and clarify patient values and preferences. The use of DAs in cancer treatment has been shown to reduce decisional conflict and increase SDM. No DAs for oral cavity cancer have yet been developed.This study endeavours to answer the question: Is there a patient or surgeon driven need for development and implementation of a DA for adult patients considering major surgery for oral cancer?Methods and analysisThis study is the first step in a multiphase investigation of SDM during major head and neck surgery. It is a multi-institutional convergent parallel mixed-methods needs assessment study. Patients and surgeon dyads will be recruited to complete questionnaires related to their perception of the SDM process (nine-item Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire, SDM-Q-9 and SDM-Q-Doc) and to take part in semistructured interviews. Patients will also complete questionnaires examining decisional self-efficacy (Ottawa Decision Self-Efficacy Scale) and decisional conflict (Decisional Conflict Scale). Questionnaires will be completed at time of recruitment and will be used to assess the current level of SDM, self-efficacy and conflict in this setting. Thematic analysis will be used to analyse transcripts of interviews. Quantitative and qualitative components of the study will be integrated through triangulation, with matrix developed to promote visualisation of the data.Ethics and DisseminationThis study has been approved by the research ethics boards of the Nova Scotia Health Authority (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and the University Health Network (Toronto, Ontario). Dissemination to clinicians will be through traditional approaches and creation of a head and neck cancer SDM website. Dissemination to patients will include a section within the website, patient advocacy groups and postings within clinical environments.

Introduction: Persistent COVID-19 symptoms (long COVID) may bring numerous challenges to long haulers' social lives. Women may have to endure more profound impacts given their social roles and existing structural inequality. This study aims to explore the impacts of long COVID on various aspects of social life among female long haulers. Methods: We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with female long haulers in the United States purposely recruited from Facebook groups, Slack group, and organization websites. The interviews were audio recorded after appropriate consent and transcribed verbatim. Inductive approach was applied in thematic analysis, which consists of six stages: becoming familiar with data, developing initial codes, extracting themes, refining themes, labeling themes, and reporting. The MAXQDA software was used in data analysis. Results: Participants reported persistent symptoms that negatively affected their social lives in many ways. The main impacts included physical limitation, financial hardship, social relationship, conflict of social roles, and social stigma. Negative effects of long COVID hindered female long haulers' recovery process. Social isolation, COVID-19 associated stigma, and conflicts of social roles cause tremendous stress. Employers' support and social media usage may play positive role in their coping with impacts of long COVID on their social life. Conclusion: Existing policies and intervention programs need to be adapted to address the challenges and barriers that long haulers face in returning to normal social life, especially for females. Tailored social life-related recommendations and social support are needed for female long haulers.

Introduction: Mindfulness-based interventions train participants to pay attention to their own emotions in the current moment without judging themselves. This study aims to assess the attitudes toward a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention among African American women living with HIV. Methods: We collected qualitative data from three focus group discussions with 18 African American women living with HIV who were purposely recruited from the Palmetto Health-USC Immunology Center in South Carolina, United States. The participants discussed how they coped with stress, and then were given a presentation on mindfulness-based stress reduction and a sample mindfulness-based stress reduction mini workshop with follow-up discussion about their thoughts and opinions on the information presented to them. Results: Participants said that mindfulness could be a useful technique and they were interested in participating in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Their main concerns included physical ability to perform some of the mindfulness techniques (e.g. yoga) and logistic barriers, such as schedule constraints. They also provided some suggestions to further tailor the mindfulness-based stress reduction, such as modifying yoga, using familiar terms, and combining both in-person and online components. These results suggest that African American women living with HIV showed strong interest in mindfulness-based stress reduction and a high level of willingness to participate in mindfulness-based stress reduction, but the existing mindfulness-based stress reduction program needs to be tailored to address challenges and barriers these women may face for attendance and completion. Conclusion: The next step is to further test the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy through a pilot study for African American women living with HIV to practice a tailored mindfulness-based stress reduction for this group.