Comparing activity engagement of people aged 18 to 64 years with and without Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Introduction: Measuring activity engagement using the Activity Card Sort Australia (18-64) supports occupational therapists and clients to identify goals for therapeutic interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate activity engagement for people aged 18 to 64 years with and without Parkinson's disease. Method: Thirty-two participants, 16 people with Parkinson's disease (mean age 57.8) and 16 healthy adults (mean age 53.1), were required to sort 85 visual activity cards into one of five categories: 'never done', 'do not do now', 'do now', 'do less now' and 'given up'. The retained activity values were calculated and compared using the Mann-Whitney U Test. Results: The overall retained activity scores were not significantly different (p ¼ .81); however, the group with Parkinson's disease had higher retained scores in the physical activities domain (p ¼ .04) Conclusion: The preventative exercise regimes of people with Parkinson's disease seems to influence activity engagement patterns. A more detailed understanding of activity engagement may further help form the basis of meaningful interventions.

Special Issue: Neurological conditions (II)

“…Occupational therapists can use the findings from these studies to deepen history-taking interviews with clients, and to expand their understanding of what it may be like to live with these conditions. Austin et al (2018) and Bryant et al (2018) offer important information about outcome measures that occupational therapists may be considering for use in practice. Austin's study indicates that the United Kingdom Functional Independence Measure and Functional Assessment Measure (UK FIM þ FAM) is responsive to change over time, both internally and externally, among children and youth with acquired brain injury.…”

“…The first part of this issue was published in October 2017. Like it, this part includes papers addressing several key areas of concern: here, lived experience (Jones and Nasrin, 2018; Lutz et al., 2018; Turpin et al., 2018, Zwicker et al., 2018), measurement (Austin et al., 2018; Bryant et al., 2018), and intervention (Stark et al., 2018).…”

“…Austin et al. (2018) and Bryant et al. (2018) offer important information about outcome measures that occupational therapists may be considering for use in practice.…”