Narrative Intervention for Long COVID (NICO): A Proof of Concept Pilot Study.

This article focuses on the feasibility and acceptability of the Narrative Intervention for Long COVID (NICO), an asynchronous, text-based therapeutic narrative intervention designed to support people living with long COVID. The study involved 17 U.S.-based participants who self-reported long COVID, with 12 completing the eight-week intervention, which aimed to improve adjustment to illness and reduce depression and anxiety symptoms measured by the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7). Results indicated preliminary reductions in depression and anxiety scores, and participants valued the intervention's flexible, asynchronous format that fit into their daily lives. The study suggests that NICO offers a promising proof of concept for scalable mental health support for chronic illness populations, though further research with larger samples is needed to confirm efficacy and explore broader applications.