title: Group education with personal rehabilitation for idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effect of a group education program with personal rehabilitation for idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial, with a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design. Forty-four stable, non-demented patients with IPD were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=23) and control group (n=21). Three group lectures on health education specific to IPD were delivered to the intervention group. The theme of lectures was "Not a lonely journey, as your friend, we---experts specializing in IPD---would love to join with you". Three domains of the management of IPD were mentioned: "How to manage your routine Meal, Moving and Mood after suffering from IPD" Each lecture was scheduled for 45 minutes (excluding breaks), and designed as an interactive dialogue rather than a traditional lecture. To strengthen the impact of the lectures, relevant information was published on a website: http://www.parkinsonism.cn/. Following the group lecture, individualized and tailored rehabilitation made up of 24 half-hour sessions over eight weeks were provided for the intervention group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The program ran smoothly and IPD patients were satisfied with this program. After only eight weeks, the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the intervention group improved significantly (p<0.001). Patients and their caregivers in this group also reported their mood elevations following the program.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Group education combined with personal rehabilitation program appears to be a beneficial and practical intervention, not only complementing the medical treatment for IPD patients but also meeting the growing demand for long-term care.
authors.affiliation: Young Leaders' Program, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yuping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yatsuya
authors.forename: Yoshitoku
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006266:Health Education; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome