Mindfulness Intervention for Post-Covid Symptoms

Change in Stress

Stress is evaluated through the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). This is a 10-item Likert scale that measures global life stress by assessing the degree to which experiences are appraised as uncontrollable or unpredictable. Scores can range from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress. The outcome measure is change in stress from baseline at 3 months (end of treatment). Negative changes indicate decreased stress relative to baseline.

Time frame: 3 months post-baseline

Change in Anxiety

PROMIS Emotional Distress-short form 7a (7 items). The PROMIS Anxiety item banks assess self-reported fear (fearfulness, panic), anxious misery (worry, dread), hyperarousal (tension, nervousness, restlessness), and somatic symptoms related to arousal (racing heart, dizziness). Anxiety is best differentiated by symptoms that reflect autonomic arousal and experience of threat. Each item on the measure is rated on a 5-point scale (1=never; 2=rarely; 3=sometimes; 4=often; and 5=always) with a range in score from 7 to 35 with higher scores indicating greater severity of anxiety. The raw scores were converted to t-scores using published guidelines (see PROMIS website). A T-score of 50 is the average for the general population with a standard deviation of 10. A higher PROMIS T-score represents more of the concept being measured; thus, an increase in emotional distress T score corresponds to more anxiety - which is a worse outcome.

Time frame: 3 months post-baseline