by Angelica Bourgeault | Oct 23, 2020

In March, SPIN reached out to people living with scleroderma via social media and the SPIN Cohort to submit their fears relating to COVID-19. Based on responses from 121 participants, the SPIN Team, in collaboration with the SPIN-COVID-19 Patient Advisory Team, developed the COVID-19 Fears Questionnaire for Chronic Medical Conditions. The COVID-19 fear measure was then validated in the ongoing SPIN-COVID-19 Study Cohort of almost 800 people with scleroderma. SPIN's COVID-19 Fears Questionnaire became the first measure to assess pandemic-related fears among patients vulnerable due to pre-existing illnesses.

SPIN would like to thank all who submitted their COVID-19 fears in March and participated in the SPIN-COVID-19 Study in April! SPIN’s COVID-19 Fears Questionnaire has been published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. Check out the research infographic below for a summary of results. To read more, access the article free-of-charge here:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110271.

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