Psychosocial needs of patients and spouses justify a position of psychosocial health professionals in the multidisciplinary care for Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Introduction Living a life with Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a challenge for both patients and spouses. Patients have to cope with an increasing limitation in all domains of their daily life and spouses need to adjust to these changes. The focus of this study is on exploring, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the psychosocial needs of both patients with PD and spouses. Methods An online survey with 11 themes, related to dealing with a chronic disease, was sent by an email to patients and spouses and two focus groups were planned, one with patients and one with spouses. Data from the survey were quantitatively analysed and audiotapes from the focus groups were transcribed verbatim and combined with notes. Results Percentages of relevance are higher than 50% for all the themes, whereas those of the need for and received support are all lower than 50%. Focus groups revealed a negative image of psychosocial therapy and associations with failure, but also difficulties in signalling problems by professionals, little attention for spouses and limited access to specialized psychosocial care. Conclusion Based on this exploration, there appears to be a threshold to ask for psychosocial support on the one hand and to find the right professional on the other hand. A permanent position for psychosocial health professionals in the multidisciplinary Parkinson teams and networks may close the gap between ‘supply and demand’.

O efeito de uma atividade de promoção da saúde mental nos indicadores psicossociais de mulheres socialmente vulneráveis de uma cidade do interior do estado de São Paulo

“…Os aspectos psicossociais têm assumido grande relevância em estudos recentes sobre saúde mental e bem-estar de diferentes grupos (FOSTER et al, 2019;MEYER, 2020a;DUITS et al, 2020;YOUNG et al, 2020;FALINDA et al, 2021;SCHNEIDERMAN;DAVIS;NEGRIFF, 2021). Apesar da unanimidade dos autores quanto à importância desse construto, identifica-se uma multiplicidade de interpretações do termo psicossocial e, considerando as variáveis adotadas por estudos recentes, é possível agrupar tais interpretações em duas vertentes principais.…”

“…Outros estudos, por sua vez, denotam uma interpretação mais ampla do termo psicossocial que engloba também aspectos relacionados à cultura e ao contexto de vida de indivíduos, famílias e populações (BASKIN; MEYER, 2020b;DUITS et al, 2020;YOUNG et al, 2020;FALINDA et al, 2021;SCHNEIDERMAN;DAVIS;NEGRIFF, 2021).…”