Fifth Sense delivers ‘Let’s Talk Long Covid’ educational session for Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists
Duncan, Sarah and volunteer Kirstie Goodchild delivered an education session on smell and taste disorders for a group of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists. The webinar was part of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists and Chartered Society of Physiotherapists ‘Let’s Talk Long Covid’ series.
We highlighted how smell dysfunction impacts on the diet and nutrition, mental health and safety of those affected. In addition to this, we raised awareness that smell disorders are more than just Covid-related, but can be down to other factors, such as head injuries and our aging process – topics which are particularly relevant to Occupational Therapists and Physios.
Kirstie is an occupational therapy postgraduate student at the University of East Anglia. From March 2020 to July 2021, whilst she was a psychology undergraduate student, she experienced anosmia and parosmia as a result of Covid-19.
Kirstie says “Whilst I am now asymptomatic, having these smell disorders negatively impacted my life at the time in several ways. These consequences included my ability to eat healthily being disrupted as food tasted distorted, having poor concentration on my studies due to improper nutrition and health anxiety, and being unable to eat or drink socially as usual with friends.
My practical self-management of these symptoms included seeking symptom education and adapting my normal routine and diet. These interventions align with occupational therapy clinical reasoning related to psychoeducation and activity analysis. The benefits these interventions had on my mental health and occupational engagement encouraged me to explore their theoretical underpinning further, supporting my decision to begin the Master’s course in Occupational Therapy.”
Kirstie Goodchild, Fifth Sense Volunteer
Kirstie played a pivotal role in the session by sharing her own experience first-hand as a trainee Occupational Therapist. Kirstie said “It was a great pleasure to share my experiences and rationale with my fellow allied health professions colleagues in the recent RCOT and CSP meeting. I feel hopeful that the education and ideas Fifth Sense shared will help positively benefit the lives of the long covid and smell disorder patients that the attendees may encounter in the future.”
