"It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset.
<h4>Background</h4>Long-term chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease, characterized by disabling rheumatic symptoms persisting for years, after infection with the chikungunya virus. Previous studies focused on assessing the well-being of affected individuals from a quantitative perspecti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-12-01
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| Series: | PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0011793&type=printable |
| _version_ | 1797377711147057152 |
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| author | Churnalisa Doran Ashley Duits Adriana Tami Izzy Gerstenbluth Ajay Bailey |
| author_facet | Churnalisa Doran Ashley Duits Adriana Tami Izzy Gerstenbluth Ajay Bailey |
| author_sort | Churnalisa Doran |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>Long-term chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease, characterized by disabling rheumatic symptoms persisting for years, after infection with the chikungunya virus. Previous studies focused on assessing the well-being of affected individuals from a quantitative perspective using generic instruments, and have reported physical and psychological impairment. However, a common critique is that generic instrument's structured responses and pre-defined health domains selected by health professionals, may not capture the full extent of well-being impairment experienced by patients. This study aimed to explore in-depth to which extent long-term chikungunya disease impacts daily living and the physical, psychological, and social well-being from the experiences and perspective of affected individuals.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Using open-ended questions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 purposively selected individuals with long-term chikungunya disease, in Curaçao. Interview audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. The data were thematically analyzed. Living with persistent rheumatic symptoms affected the participant's daily living and well-being in several ways: experience of physical impact (restricted physical functioning and limitations in activities of daily life); experience of psychological impact (altered emotional state, fear of walking and running, psychosocial aspects of footwear adaptations, and uncertainty about disease progression and future health); and experience of social impact (social isolation and impaired relational maintenance, social dependency, challenges of social support, at-work productivity loss, and giving up leisure activities after work).<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>This study, the first of its kind, indicated that the adverse impact of long-term chikungunya disease is currently underreported. The persistent rheumatic symptoms had a negative effect on functional ability, which in turn impacted broad aspects of daily life and well-being, beyond what is captured by generic instruments. In the view of the findings, physical exercise programs including manual therapy, aerobics, resistance and stretching exercises, and orthopaedic footwear interventions in a multidisciplinary patient-centred approach may improve physical function and subsequently overall well-being. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:57:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b85241bd9ee74342b4e3c92f6bfdb457 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1935-2727 1935-2735 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:57:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
| spelling | doaj.art-b85241bd9ee74342b4e3c92f6bfdb4572023-12-24T05:33:59ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases1935-27271935-27352023-12-011712e001179310.1371/journal.pntd.0011793"It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset.Churnalisa DoranAshley DuitsAdriana TamiIzzy GerstenbluthAjay Bailey<h4>Background</h4>Long-term chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease, characterized by disabling rheumatic symptoms persisting for years, after infection with the chikungunya virus. Previous studies focused on assessing the well-being of affected individuals from a quantitative perspective using generic instruments, and have reported physical and psychological impairment. However, a common critique is that generic instrument's structured responses and pre-defined health domains selected by health professionals, may not capture the full extent of well-being impairment experienced by patients. This study aimed to explore in-depth to which extent long-term chikungunya disease impacts daily living and the physical, psychological, and social well-being from the experiences and perspective of affected individuals.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Using open-ended questions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 purposively selected individuals with long-term chikungunya disease, in Curaçao. Interview audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. The data were thematically analyzed. Living with persistent rheumatic symptoms affected the participant's daily living and well-being in several ways: experience of physical impact (restricted physical functioning and limitations in activities of daily life); experience of psychological impact (altered emotional state, fear of walking and running, psychosocial aspects of footwear adaptations, and uncertainty about disease progression and future health); and experience of social impact (social isolation and impaired relational maintenance, social dependency, challenges of social support, at-work productivity loss, and giving up leisure activities after work).<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>This study, the first of its kind, indicated that the adverse impact of long-term chikungunya disease is currently underreported. The persistent rheumatic symptoms had a negative effect on functional ability, which in turn impacted broad aspects of daily life and well-being, beyond what is captured by generic instruments. In the view of the findings, physical exercise programs including manual therapy, aerobics, resistance and stretching exercises, and orthopaedic footwear interventions in a multidisciplinary patient-centred approach may improve physical function and subsequently overall well-being.https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0011793&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Churnalisa Doran Ashley Duits Adriana Tami Izzy Gerstenbluth Ajay Bailey "It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
| title | "It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset. |
| title_full | "It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset. |
| title_fullStr | "It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset. |
| title_full_unstemmed | "It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset. |
| title_short | "It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset. |
| title_sort | it s very saddening you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over a qualitative study exploring the long term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well being 6 years after disease onset |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0011793&type=printable |
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