Objective: To improve the mental health of isolated patients with COVID-19 by face-to-face psychological rehabilitation program. Design: Randomized controlled study. Setting: Single community-based hospital. Participants: 109 patients (52 in experimental group, 57 in control group) with COVID-19 were recruited from May 27 to September 17, 2021. Interventions: A psychological rehabilitation program that consists of education, craft, and physical activity. The activity program was provided by a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team of doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. The purpose of the education was to provide accurate information about COVID-19, and craft and physical activity were for improving physical health, occupational balance, participation in activities, and reducing boredom. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was degree of anxiety assessed using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Secondary outcomes were severity of depression, and quality of sleep assessed using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Visual Analysis Scale (VAS), and the Korean version of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI-K). Results: Isolated patients complained of anxiety, depression, and insomnia the most in the early stages of hospitalization and isolation. In addition, the psychological rehabilitation program significantly improved mental health scale, including scores of SAS (F = 12.46, p = .001), SDS (F = 6.76, p = .01), and ISI-K (F = 4.41, p = .04). Conclusions: The psychological rehabilitation program is effective for improving anxiety, depression, and quality of sleep for isolated patients with COVID-19.

Lee BJ, et al. Ann Rehabil Med. 2017 Feb;41(1):121-128. https://doi.org/10.5535/arm.2017.41.1.121

Background: To improve the rehabilitation team’s awareness of patient mobility and participation by enhancing communication between therapists and nurses and conducting patient education.Methods: This study used a non-equivalent control group with a non-synchronized design. To facilitate communication between therapists and nurses, we used a manual for mobility management to improve the sharing of information on the functional status of patients. We also implemented patient education to improve their awareness of mobility and participation. Finally, we conducted newly devised surveys related to patient functional status and awareness that were applied by therapists and nurses.Results: The nurses reported significantly lower functional levels of patients compared to those assessed by therapists. After the intervention, the kappa values representing the concordance between therapists and nurses improved to almost perfect agreement for transfer ability (κ=0.836), mobility (κ=0.664), and toileting (κ=1.000). We also observed a statistically significant increase in questionnaire scores with respect to nurses’ awareness (p<0.05).Conclusion: Improving communication among the rehabilitation team, including nurses through the use of a continuous education program, was effective in promoting the mobility and functional level of patients in the inpatient ward.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a substantial impact on the physical and mental health status of patients with COVID-19. This study's objective was to evaluate the factors associated with mental health in patients isolated with COVID-19. It is a retrospective, cross-sectional study. One hundred and two patients discharged from COVID-19 hospitalization in Korea were analyzed. The primary outcome was the correlation between psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and fear of stigma and physical symptoms such as respiratory symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, headache, and fever. Mental and physical symptoms were ascertained using closed and multiple-choice questions. The secondary outcome was the correlation between mental issues, demographic factors, and disease severity. Hypoxia and the need for oxygen therapy, a need for remdesivir antiviral treatment, and indications of pneumonia progression on chest x-ray were confirmed through a review of medical records and used to measure disease severity. Patients with COVID-19 indicated feelings of depression (48.1%), anxiety (49.1%), and fear of stigma (60.45%), and some continued to experience physical symptoms even after discharge. Logistic regression revealed that gastrointestinal symptoms positively correlated with depression (p < .05) and headache positively correlated with fear of stigma (p < .05), while the other factors were not statistically significant (p > .05). This study showed that psychological symptoms persisted even after discharge. Gastrointestinal symptoms and headache were influential factors in predicting depression and fear of stigma. Based on this, dedicated COVID-19 hospitals should provide mental health support and preventive management.

Background: Speech sound disorders are common in children and are associated with an increased risk of academic reading difficulties. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the need for remote and digitalized assessment tools. In South Korea, standardized instruments such as the Urimal Test of Articulation and Phonation and Assessment of Phonology and Articulation for children are widely used but have limitations, including reliance on face-to-face evaluation, and the absence of automated scoring. Objective: This study aimed to develop and establish the content validity of an articulation assessment tool that can overcome these limitations and be integrated into digital therapeutics (DTx). Methods: A 3-round modified Delphi survey was conducted between July and September 2025 with 92% (23/25) of the invited experts, including 52.2% (12/23) physiatrists and 47.8% (11/23) speech-language pathologists, with a mean professional experience of 10.69 (SD 5.09) years. All participants (23/23, 100%) completed all rounds. Panelists evaluated the appropriateness of word lists, phonological environments, and scoring criteria. Quantitative analyses, including calculations of content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), and median and IQR, were performed. Consensus thresholds were set at a CVR of ≥0.39, a CVI of ≥0.78, a median of ≥3.5, and an IQR of ≤1.0. Items were retained only when all 4 criteria were satisfied. While formal qualitative analysis was not performed, the research team internally reviewed and synthesized core keywords and themes from the experts’ open-ended responses to guide the refinement of items. Results: These findings were summarized into four key areas: (1) modernization of word stimuli, (2) expansion of phonological coverage, (3) refinement of scoring criteria to reduce ambiguity, and (4) enhancement of result interpretability through visualization. In round 2, a revised 35-word list was evaluated across 25 items, of which 20 (80%) met all consensus criteria. In total, 20% (5/25) of the items failed to meet at least one threshold, including phonological environment adequacy (CVR=0.48; CVI=0.74), scoring redundancy (CVR=0.13; CVI=0.57), usefulness of proportion of whole-word correctness or percentage of word proximity (CVR=0.39; CVI=0.70), contribution of mean phonological length (CVR=0.22; CVI=0.61), and usefulness of feature-based indexes (CVR=0.30; CVI=0.65; IQR 2). Items that reached consensus showed CVR values of 0.57 to 0.91, CVI values of 0.78 to 0.96, a median score of 4, and IQR values of 0 to 1. In round 3, all remaining items achieved consensus. Conclusions: This Delphi study developed a novel articulation assessment tool with robust content validity. This tool includes updated word stimuli, diverse analysis indexes, and visualization features, thereby enhancing its clinical utility and suitability for integration into artificial intelligence–based DTx. By standardizing and digitalizing articulation assessments, this tool has the potential to support personalized and accessible interventions for children with speech sound disorders.

COVID-19 is known to cause psychological problems. Psychological rehabilitation can be performed to reduce anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Facing patients with infectious diseases can be difficult for medical staff. Therefore, this study compared the effects of psychiatric tele-rehabilitation (TR) and conventional psychiatric rehabilitation (CR) in isolated patients with COVID-19. This randomized controlled study, conducted at a single community-based hospital, included 40 patients (24 in the psychiatric tele-rehabilitation group [TRG] and 16 in the conventional psychiatric rehabilitation group [CRG]) with COVID-19 were recruited from November 18, 2021, to April 7, 2022. Psychiatric rehabilitation is an occupation-based intervention in which patients perform meaningful activities and tasks. Patients in the TRG selected activities, received counseling, and underwent monitoring over the phone, while those in the CRG participated in face-to-face sessions. The interventions were conducted for 50 min each day during an isolation period of 7 days in both groups, and all participants received the interventions individually. The primary outcome was anxiety assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Secondary outcomes include the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to evaluate depression, the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale-8 (MSBS-8) to assess boredom. The Korean version of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI-K) was used to assess the quality of sleep, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument-BRIEF (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to evaluate quality of life. Questionnaires were administered at admission, discharge, and at the 6-month follow-up. In the time × group analysis, the SAS total score (p = .033) and the VAS score for depression (p = .012) in the CRG were significantly lower than those in the TRG at the time of discharge. The VAS score for anxiety (p = .007), total SAS score (p = .050), and VAS score for depression (p = .003) in the CRG were also significantly lower than those in the TRG at the 6-month follow-up. The PHQ-9, MSBS-8, ISI-K, and WHOQOL-BREF scores showed no significant interactions in the time × group analysis. TR was effective in reducing anxiety and improving quality of life during hospitalization, but had no remained effects after discharge. Otherwise, CR was more effective than TR for anxiety and depression during hospitalization and had remained effects at 6-month follow-up. However, considering the characteristics of infectious conditions that involve risk in contact, TR will still play an important role, and efforts will be needed to improve the effect that remained. The trial was registered with the Korea Clinical Trials Registry (KCT0006714, Date of registration 08/11/2021).