Life with communication changes in Parkinson's disease.
BACKGROUND
Acoustic and perceptual changes to speech in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been widely studied. Little empirical evidence exists concerning the individual's own perception of changes, the impact these have on their life and coping strategies to deal with them.


OBJECTIVE
To establish if, and how, changes in communication impact on the lives of people with PD.


METHODS
In-depth interviews with qualitative analysis of content.


METHODS
Community.


METHODS
Twenty-three men and 14 women with PD.


METHODS
Participants were purposively sampled to give a mix of men, women, family circumstances, stage and duration of PD and severity of speech symptoms. Individuals were interviewed at home. Interviews were transcribed. Emergent themes were identified and fed back to participants for confirmation and clarification.


RESULTS
Participants identified changes to voice and articulation. Language changes featured prominently. Four impact themes: (i) interaction with others, (ii) problems with conversations, (iii) feelings about intelligibility and (iv) voice; and four corresponding coping themes (a) helping others understand, (b) managing conversations, (c) monitoring and adjusting and (d) physical strategies emerged. Of main concern was not the nature of speech-voice-language changes, but how these affected self-concept, participation inside and outside the family and family dynamics. Individuals employed a range of fluid coping strategies moving from background withdrawal to foreground striving strategies.


CONCLUSIONS
Speech and language changes in PD impact upon individual and family life long before frank impairment of intelligibility is apparent. The role of early referral to speech and language therapy is therefore worthy of detailed investigation.
Speech Language Sciences, George VI Building, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne GB-NE1 7RU, UK. nicholas.miller@ncl.ac.uk
Nick
N
Miller
Emma
E
Noble
Diana
D
Jones
David
D
Burn
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*