How do people living with COPD get through the COVID-19 pandemic?
How do people living with COPD get through the COVID-19 pandemic?
Whilst everyone is going through difficult and unprecedented times, having to transition from their real to virtual world, people living with COPD don’t have the same opportunity in regard continuing their COPD management, including physical activity, which is often clinic based and supervised.
WillKin Health (WillKin), a provider of exercise and education programs for those with chronic health conditions, has had to switch its efforts to deliver their exercise services remotely and safely.
Pulmonary rehabilitation clinics have had to temporarily close and the in person programs are suspended due to concerns of infection and the need for physical distancing (1).WillKin recognized there was a need to understand the impact of this confinement on people living with COPD and urgently provide a program to help, quickly and effectively. Important questions were asked – How can we help them? How do they feel? What types of services are they looking for? How can we reach them?
The WillKin team brought together a number of stakeholders from the COPD community to quickly explore these questions, working jointly with Living Well With COPD (RESPIPLUS) and COPD Canada.
What was the objective of the study?
The study aimed to answer three specific questions.
- What has been the impact caused by the pandemic on behaviors around physical activity of Canadians living with COPD?
- What acceptability do Canadians, living with COPD, have for a training program, supervised by a kinesiologist, conducted at a distance or in person (outside the context of a pandemic)?
- How do Canadians living with COPD use technology?
COPD management program
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs were already difficult to access for Canadians before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Before the pandemic, “approximately 0.4% of all Canadians with COPD and 0.8% of Canadians with moderate to severe COPD had access to a PR program” (2). These numbers also represent the many Canadians not receiving care. These could be Canadians in rural areas, far from PR, or simply screened out. PR programs encourage self-management of COPD and are linked to many benefits. PR reduces dyspnea, encourages functional status and reduces the need for clinical care after an exacerbation, through improving self-management and stabilizing or reversing disease manifestation (3).“Although advocacy efforts to promote the successful and traditional center-based pulmonary rehabilitation model must continue, given the availability, accessibility, and uptake problems mentioned earlier, investigation of alternate forms of program delivery is necessary (4)”. Now with the pandemic affecting the accessibility of PR to Canadians, how are these individuals keeping up with their COPD self-management?
WillKin noticed difficulties with PR accessibility and developed COPD ConnEx to both aid accessibility to prescriptive exercise and bridge the gap between PR care and self-management. With the current transition to a remote platform, there comes challenges. How do these individuals use technology? Is everyone comfortable with using video conferencing tools like Zoom? WillKin reached out to communities of people living with COPD to understand how they would respond to remote delivery of an exercise program.
What are the results of the study?
This study was sent via email to members living with COPD, from organizations ‘COPD Canada’ and ‘RESPIPLUS’ Living well With COPD’. A total of 248 respondents gave us several results, below are our first insights:
- While half of the people living with COPD who were surveyed said that they had reduced their physical activity levels due to the pandemic, it was noted that this group had a tougher time thinking positively about their health.
- Moreover, we noted that those who were already not very active (less than once a week) lost their active habits the most quickly, demonstrating a relationship between the level of physical activity and the perception of their activities
The results were more insightful than we had expected. Level of activity in general went down, and many are afraid of leaving their homes. Their way of thinking positively, was reduced. These Canadians were (and are) being impacted by the pandemic and we want to find a way to develop a support system to reach them.
The COPD ConnEx program has been adapted to be delivered remotely. This program includes educational topics: covering breathing techniques, positive thinking, healthy eating and more. Additionally, it includes client-tailored exercises to encourage confidence in exercise and ability, decrease dyspnea and promote better daily living. The sessions are supervised by an accredited and experienced Kinesiologist and followed by personalized at home exercises for the individual to incorporate into their daily routine.
If you need help to continue your physical activities, contact a member of our team now.
Click to open in a new window: 0022-WIL_Inforgraphic_COPD-Covid19_01
Want to learn more about our remote programs?
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REFERENCES:
2. Camp, P. G., Hernandez, P., Bourbeau, J., Kirkham, A., Debigare, R., Stickland, M. K., Goodridge, D., Marciniuk, D. D., Road, J. D., Bhutani, M., & Dechman, G. (2015). Pulmonary rehabilitation in Canada: A report from the Canadian Thoracic Society COPD Clinical Assembly. Canadian respiratory journal, 22(3), 147–152. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/369851
3. Spruit MA, Singh SJ, Garvey C, ZuWallack R, Nici L, Rochester C, Hill K, Holland AE, Lareau SC, Man WD, Pitta F, Sewell L, Raskin J, Bourbeau J, Crouch R, Franssen FM, Casaburi R, Vercoulen JH, Vogiatzis I, Gosselink R, Clini EM, Effing TW, Maltais F, van der Palen J, Troosters T, Janssen DJ, Collins E, Garcia-Aymerich J, Brooks D, Fahy BF, Puhan MA, Hoogendoorn M, Garrod R, Schols AM, Carlin B, Benzo R, Meek P, Morgan M, Rutten-van Mölken MP, Ries AL, Make B, Goldstein RS, Dowson CA, Brozek JL, Donner CF, Wouters EF, ATS/ERS Task Force on Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Oct 15; 188(8):e13-64.
4. Linda Nici, Sally J. Singh , Anne E. Holland, and Richard L. ZuWallack. “Opportunities and Challenges in Expanding Pulmonary Rehabilitation into the Home and Community.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 200(7), pp. 822–827. 2019 May,3.