Parkinson's Disease

This poster was presented at the May 2014 UT Tyler Faculty Awards to describe the experience of living with PD through the participants’ capture of meaningful images.

Pictures can aid in understanding individual perspectives of an experience. Photovoice, a visual elicitation research approach, was used to engage nine participants with Parkinson's disease in taking photographs that, for them, represented important aspects of living with the disease. Participants' descriptions of their photographs revealed perspectives that can be theoretically linked to two psychosocial stages of development: (a) generativity versus stagnation and (b) integrity versus despair.

To discuss the visible and invisible stigma shared by seven men and seven women with Parkinson's disease (PD), a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder characterized by overt physical and covert psychological manifestations.

The purpose of this study is to systematically examine the scientific literature and report the biopsychosocial and spiritual aspects of persons with Parkinson disease and their adaptation to the disease, to discuss methodological challenges associated with researching this phenomenon, and to propose future research.

This poster was presented at the National Gerontological Association Annual Conference, in Louisville, Kentucky to describe caregiving tasks; how caregivers learn about caregiving; knowledge needs; preferred methods of learning.

Findings from a qualitative ethnographic study that examined the experiences of a group of persons with Parkinson disease are presented in this article. Culturally competent care for persons who share a common illness, such as Parkinson disease, is facilitated when the findings are incorporated into the Clinically Relevant Continuum Model. Use of this model allows providers to evaluate and use appropriate published evidence in addition to provider expertise and patient preferences and values.