Dynamics of Patients’ Memory Performance at the 2^nd Stage of Medical Rehabilitation after the Acute COVID-19

Relevance. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on numerous aspects of human life. Despite the WHO’s announcement in 2023 that COVID-19 is no longer a global health threat, the coronavirus continues to be an important part of the health care system. Quarantine measures are still being implemented in hospitals, and patients are being transferred to infectious disease wards. One of the key areas of ongoing research on COVID-19 is patient rehabilitation, including the restoration of cognitive functions, which are often impaired in post-COVID syndrome.
Intention. The aim of the work is to study the dynamics of memory performance in patients undergoing an inpatient medical rehabilitation program (stage 2) after acute COVID-19. In the presented paper, the studied indicators included short-term and long-term verbal memory, logical (semantic) memory.
Methodology. The study involved 104 patients examined 12–13 weeks after the onset of COVID-19. The study stages were: 1) psychodiagnostic examination upon admission to the hospital (before rehabilitation); 2) psychodiagnostic examination upon discharge from the hospital (after rehabilitation). The research methods included a structured interview to collect data on the demographic and psychosocial characteristics of patients, the verbal learning test “Learning a series of words” (“10 words”), the subtest “Logical memory (“Remembering stories”)” of the WMS-IV (Wechsler Memory Scale).
Results. Following the inpatient rehabilitation program, improvements were observed in shortterm and long-term mechanical memory, as well as logical memory. Statistically significant differences in cognitive functioning were identified between different age groups at both stages of the study.
Conclusion. The results can be used to enhance the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs and highlight the need for clinical psychologist involvement in the care of post-COVID patients.

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