Title

Parkinson's Disease Support Groups in Rural America: Barriers, Resources, and Opportunities

Location

1048

Format Type

Event

Format Type

Paper

Start Date

January 2019

End Date

January 2019

Abstract

We will describe our background and purpose briefly and spend the majority of our time describing our methods and results.

Background: People with Parkinson’s disease who live in rural communities may lack information and support regarding their condition, compared to those in urban or suburban areas.

Purpose: For the study described herein, the researchers sought to gain a deeper understanding of support group experiences of rural Parkinson’s disease stakeholders through merging an interpretive phenomenological design with Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR).

Methods: Using this merged approach we collected qualitative data from five focus groups and gained a community perspective. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically using Template Analysis, and then further explored for an overall essence.

Results: The themes that emerged were: Support Group Benefits: Opportunities for Communication, Barriers to Support Group Participation, Strategies to Improve Support Group Access.

Discussion: Notably, some participants discussed ways that support groups could increase their accessibility to more individuals with Parkinson’s living rurally, in the form of recommendations, so that the support groups endured as a future resource. The themes and recommendations that emerged led the researchers to interpret the overall essence of this work as, Experiencing support group benefits despite barriers: leaving a legacy.

Keywords

Template Analysis, Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), Interpretive Phenomenology, Parkinson's Disease

Comments

We were invited to submit to this because of our accepted paper to TQR.

I realize this is late, and regret submitting it late, but thought I would try since the link is still availbale!

Thank you for the opportunity!

This document is currently not available here.

COinS
 
Jan 17th, 1:15 PM Jan 17th, 1:35 PM

Parkinson's Disease Support Groups in Rural America: Barriers, Resources, and Opportunities

1048

We will describe our background and purpose briefly and spend the majority of our time describing our methods and results.

Background: People with Parkinson’s disease who live in rural communities may lack information and support regarding their condition, compared to those in urban or suburban areas.

Purpose: For the study described herein, the researchers sought to gain a deeper understanding of support group experiences of rural Parkinson’s disease stakeholders through merging an interpretive phenomenological design with Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR).

Methods: Using this merged approach we collected qualitative data from five focus groups and gained a community perspective. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically using Template Analysis, and then further explored for an overall essence.

Results: The themes that emerged were: Support Group Benefits: Opportunities for Communication, Barriers to Support Group Participation, Strategies to Improve Support Group Access.

Discussion: Notably, some participants discussed ways that support groups could increase their accessibility to more individuals with Parkinson’s living rurally, in the form of recommendations, so that the support groups endured as a future resource. The themes and recommendations that emerged led the researchers to interpret the overall essence of this work as, Experiencing support group benefits despite barriers: leaving a legacy.