Parkinsons disease

The methods of coping and their relationship to disease severity, cognitive function, depression and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were examined in 79 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and their carers. The coping methods of the PD patients were not associated with disease severity, cognitive function, or depression. In general the majority of correlations were weak. However, patients who used avoidance and cognitive coping methods reported improved HRQoL. Impaired cognitive function, poorer HRQoL and increased disease severity were associated with depression in patients.

The caregiving literature provides compelling evidence that caregiving burden and depressive symptoms are linked with stressful care relationships, however, relational difficulties around caregiving are seldom described in the literature. This article presents findings from content analysis of baseline interviews with 40 Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) spousal caregivers enrolled in a home care skill-training trial who identified their care relationship as a source of care burden.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the views and experiences of the informal caregivers of repeat fallers with Parkinson's disease. Method: Individuals were invited to participate in this study if they were the informal caregiver of a person with Parkinson's disease (PD) who had experienced more than one fall in the previous 12 months. Participants were interviewed about their experience of managing falls using a semi-structured interview schedule.

BACKGROUND: Along with classical motor disorders in Parkinson's disease (PD), psychopathological features frequently co-occur, which may increase the caregiver's burden.

AIMS: To identify the profile of psychopathological symptoms in patients with PD and the impact imposed by this condition on the caregiver's burden.

SUBJECTS: Fifty patients with idiopathic PD seen consecutively at the Movement Disorder Outpatient Clinic at the Hospital of State University of Campinas, Brazil, and their 50 respective caregivers were studied.

Although most people with Parkinson’s disease are cared for in the community, little is known about family members’ lived experiences of palliative or end-of-life care. The aim of this study was to explore former carers’ lived experiences of palliative and end-of-life care. In total, 15 former family caregivers of patients who had died with Parkinson’s disease were interviewed using a semi-structured topic list. Findings indicated that some palliative and end-of-life care needs had not been fully addressed.

The Parkinson's Disease Society has produced a DVD, Being There, which aims to answer the questions and concerns of people newly diagnosed with the condition. Being There provides an insight into symptoms, treatments and life with Parkinson's in general, and includes interviews with people with Parkinson's, carers, and expert healthcare professionals The DVD is divided into four chapters: introduction to Parkinson's disease; treating Parkinson's; living with Parkinson's; and about the Parkinson's Disease Society.

This Canadian study aimed to emulate face-to-face psychosocial support group process in an Internet videoconferencing environment and explore the benefits for 34 family caregivers of persons with neurodegenerative disease. Caregivers were provided with computer equipment and trained to access a password-protected Web site. Using videoconferencing software, each group of 6 members met with a facilitator online weekly for 10 weeks. Each caregiver was interviewed at 6-month follow-up.

The current study investigated the types of support networks and services accessed by people with progressive neurological illness, as well as the assessment of the usefulness of these services. The participants were 25 people with multiple sclerosis, 15 people with motor neurone disease, 23 people with Parkinson's disease, and six people with Huntington's disease. Twenty-eight professionals who worked with people with these illnesses and 41 carers of people with these illnesses also were interviewed.

Objective: By means of a controlled trial, to investigate the efficacy, tolerability and feasibility of a multi-component sleep therapy intervention versus basic sleep hygiene education in PD patients with sleep disturbances and their live-in carers.

Methods: Patient-carer dyads were randomised to either of the two interventions. Quantitative measures of sleep, psychiatric and overall functioning were administered at baseline and two weeks after the intervention to patients and carers.