DiEgO | Universitätsmedizin Göttingen

Digital occupational therapy for fatigue and concentration disorders – DiEgO

Many people in Germany suffer from excessive exhaustion or fatigue, which is a common symptom of chronic conditions such as rheumatic conditions, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and post-viral syndromes and can severely limit those affected in their everyday lives. Even the journey to the doctor or therapist can become an insurmountable hurdle for these patients.

Over the past two years, we have worked with partners such as the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at Hannover Medical School to develop and evaluate a digital occupational therapy intervention for the treatment of fatigue and concentration disorders in people with long COVID (ErgoLoCo). In the pilot study funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), we were able to provide proof of principle and show that the intervention is perceived as helpful and accepted by those affected.

Project objectives

The objective of the follow-up project DiEgO is to further develop the occupational therapy units from ErgoLoCo in cooperation with patients and occupational therapists, to supplement them with exercise therapy approaches, and to integrate the further developed intervention into an applicable web app.

Study design and methodology

In the participatory DiEgO study, an app with occupational therapy and exercise therapy units is being developed in collaboration with people with fatigue and concentration disorders and occupational therapists in the context of research workshops, focus groups, and individual interviews. A development team has been established for this purpose, consisting of scientific staff with different professional backgrounds (medical, psychological, sports science, sociological) as well as several occupational therapists and former participants of ErgoLoCo.

The project is being implemented in four steps:

(1) Selection of units from the ErgoLoCo therapy program that are perceived as helpful, based on the feasibility study conducted there, and expansion to include exercise therapy content as a result of a literature review;

(2) Cooperative further development of the selected therapy units with affected individuals and occupational therapists with regard to the requirements and needs of people with fatigue and concentration disorders;

(3) Integration of the adapted interventions on the eHealth platform CIAS@EU/DioCo and evaluation by patients in partner practices;

(4) DiEgO is to be used successively by patients in partner practices.