Development and Validation of a Customised Yoga Therapy Module for People Living with Early Parkinsonism

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurological degenerative condition affecting motor and non-motor functions of everyday life. While early management focuses on functional mobility and rehabilitation, evidence supports that yogic interventions as adjuvant therapy are applied yet limited in clinical practice. This study developed a customised yoga therapy module (CYTM) for motor and non-motor conditions, particularly for people with mild to moderate PD. Purpose To develop a patient-friendly, symptom-specific, 24-week CYTM for people living with early Parkinsonism of Hoehn and Yahr staging scale I–III. Methods The study follows a five-phased methodological development, which comprises a literature search, conceptualisation and development of a 24-week CYTM for early PD, evaluation with validation by the subject/panel experts, and relevance, along with a phase-wise operational method. The relevance of selected practices was validated with the item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and scale-level (S)-CVI/AVR/UA. Results The executed five-phased methodological framework, and the newly developed CYTM comprises 29 practices to improve the functional changes of people with early PD. Experts’ ratings yielded I-CVI (>0.91), scale-level content validity index of the average (S-CVI/AVR) (>0.995) with average and scale-level content validity index based on universal agreement (S-CVI/UA) (Universal Agreement) >0.941. Conclusion As per the expert’s opinion, the newly developed, symptom-specific, participant-friendly CYTM could be an appropriate practice for people living with mild to moderate PD. This CYTM will be evaluated by a non-randomised controlled clinical trial to establish its effectiveness.