Nielsen, K. orcid.org/0000-0001-9685-9570 and Yarker, J. (2024) "It’s a rollercoaster”: The recovery and return-to-work experiences of workers with long COVID. Work & Stress, 38 (2). pp. 202-230. ISSN 0267-8373
Abstract
Research on long COVID is still in its infancy with the primary focus being on symptoms, treatment, and prevalence. Due to the severity and longevity of long COVID that has also affected the working population, an important question is how organisations can support workers with long COVID to stay and thrive in the workplace. In the present study, we used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the lived experiences of workers with long COVID and the barriers and facilitators to them working while managing their symptoms. Using purposeful sampling, we recruited participants through social media and conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 workers with long COVID in Spring/Summer 2021. Three higher-order themes revolved around suffering, identity work and belongingness, and 12 subthemes, which were seen as barriers and facilitators to sustainable return to work at the individual, group, leader, organisational and overarching contextual levels. Our findings highlight the urgent need for research that considers work outcomes of those with long COVID and have important implications for how organisations can support workers suffering from long COVID and prevent sickness absence and reduce worklessness.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
Keywords: | Long COVID; sustainable return to work; Interpretative Phenomological Analysis; qualitative; UK; work psychology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Nov 2023 10:55 |
Last Modified: | 07 May 2024 12:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor and Francis Group |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/02678373.2023.2286654 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:205582 |
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