‘Living Well with Parkinson’s’: evaluation of a programme to promote self-management

mulligan h, arps g, bancroft n, mountfort r & polkinghorne a (2011) Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronic Illness3, 222–233‘Living Well with Parkinson’s’: evaluation of a programme to promote self-management Aim. To evaluate an innovative self-management programme for people with Parkinson’s disease from the users’ perspectives. Background. The increasing burden associated with health services for people with chronic conditions has led to an emphasis on self-management. Benefits of self-management programmes for people with chronic conditions have been demonstrated. There is, however, a dearth of information for content and implementation of self-management programmes for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Methods. Attendees at a programme of seminars developed to improve self-management for living with Parkinson’s disease held during 2010 were invited to take part in this study after the end of the programme. Eight participants with Parkinson’s and three support persons were interviewed regarding their perceptions of the effectiveness of the programme in improving their own personal efficacy for living with Parkinson’s. Interviews were audio-taped, then transcribed and the data analysed for themes. Results. Three themes were extracted from the data: (1) reasons for choosing to attend the programme, (2) perceived benefits, and (3) suggestions for improving future programmes. Particular benefits were improved knowledge for living with Parkinson’s, psychosocial benefits of meeting others also living with Parkinson’s, new strategies for living with Parkinson’s and reinforcement of previous strategies. Suggestions for future programmes included less emphasis on the signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and that strategies for living with Parkinson’s need to be explicitly developed. Conclusion. A programme of seminars that facilitated identification of strategies for everyday life with Parkinson’s was perceived to be useful in improving individuals with Parkinson’s and their support persons’ ability to be better at managing life with Parkinson’s. Relevance to clinical practice. This study provides information for health professionals regarding implementation of the concept of self-management for individuals with Parkinson’s disease.