The UIC Barcelona WeCare Chair has begun a study to measure the psychological impact COVID-19 has had on survivors of the virus, their family members and healthcare professionals.  The research will take the form of a qualitative study carried out in collaboration with the Hospital General de Catalunya, the Catalan Institute of Oncology and the Terrassa Health Consortium. The study focuses on people living in Barcelona and hopes to be able to draw some definitive conclusions within a year’s time.

 

The aim of the research is to determine how participants have been impacted by the harsh reality of dying in isolation. “We want to understand and explore how these individuals have been affected by the mortality they have experienced, or in the case of survivors, by living in isolation with the very present threat of death”, explained Dr Cristina Monforte, co-director of the WeCare Chair.

 

Dr Cristina Monforte and Dr Josep Porta, WeCare Chair directors and the study’s leading investigators, have expressed their regret at the amount of people who have pass away in isolation during the pandemic and have stated that, should there be a second wave of the virus that fills hospitals once again, this situation must be re-examined.