COVID-19

It was clear from the beginning that the COVID-19 pandemic would not be solely a medical issue, and that its impact would affect many other aspects of people’s lives: the way we work, our social relationships, our concept of safety and solidarity.

How have our lives changed? How have our societies responded to this unprecedented event? Have these responses been appropriate and effective? Is there room for improvement?

DIPEx was born from a simple yet complex idea: distilling the knowledge of communities to put it to service – for the same communities. That’s why at the beginning of the pandemic we immediately started a dedicated line of research. The module on COVID-19 results from the effort of an international research group with 8 participating countries and over 30 researchers.

In light of DIPEx’s commitment, this research project aims to clarify what we can understand from the experiences of COVID-19 survivors from the countries participating in this study.

This research project focuses on action-oriented research, understood as a participatory process that combines practical knowledge and theoretical reflection, in the pursuit of solutions to issues of pressing concern to individuals and communities.

This research project aims to provide information and support to patients, families, caregivers, friends, and caregivers about the COVID-19 experience, and consequently to understand how response strategies (understood at both the clinical and societal levels) to the current public health crisis and future significant public health threats can be reshaped and improved.

  • Credits

    Researchers

    Giovanni Spitale

    Giovanni Spitale is a PhD student in Bioethics at the University of Zurich. He studied Philosophy and Philosophical Sciences in Italy, where he also worked as a teacher, educator and communication expert. He has collaborated and collaborates with numerous associations related to the donation of blood, organs and bone marrow, concrete practices of humanity to which he has dedicated much of his studies and on which he has written two books: “Il Dono nelle Donazioni” (2015) and “Hestia” (2017).
    He is a member of DIPEx.ch since the end of 2017, contributing as a research data manager and coordinator of the module on the experiences of young adults with hemato-oncological diseases.

    Susanne Jöbges

    Dr. med. Susanne Jöbges works as a postdoctoral researcher in bioethics. She holds a degree in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine and a masters degree in medical ethic. She’s been working as a consultant for anaesthesiology in the department for anaesthesioloy and intensive care (head of the department Prof. Dr. med. C. Spies) at the charité Berlin. On an intensive care unit she was leading senior assistant.

    After she joined the DIPEx team in May 2019 and coordinates the module about experiences with self-determination and intensive care.

    Corine Mouton-Dorey

    Corine Mouton-Dorey focuses her research on patient agency and accountability. Her PhD work on biomedical ethics identified the importance of the patients’voices in medical practice for better care, trust and justice in health. She has a practical experience with patients both as a cardiologist and as a qualitative researcher. She supports  the french-speaking part of the DIPEx project and work on the possibilities to enrich DIPEx process and outcomes with digital technology.

    Andrea Glässel

    Andrea Glässel has been a member of the DIPEx Swiss (Database of Individual Patient Experiences) team at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine (IBME) since 2017. She coordinates the module on experiencing multiple sclerosis (MS) from the point of view of patients. In addition to her research work at IBME, Andrea is a professor at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in Winterthur, where she teaches students from various healthcare professions. She has been a trained physiotherapist since 1991 and worked for ten years in inpatient and outpatient neurorehabilitation. Since her studies in health sciences, she has been researching a holistic concept of biopsychosocial health, functioning and disability of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2012, she wrote her doctoral thesis on: “Functioning and Disability after stroke: The perspective of the patient and medical professionals”.

    Advisory panel

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