Objective: To explore barriers and facilitators to physical activity and examine the relationship with falls for people with Parkinson’s (PwP) using body worn cameras.

Background: PwP do not achieve optimal levels of physical activity, even in early stage disease which can lead to secondary complications and exacerbation of primary symptoms. Reasons for increasing inactivity include motor symptoms, fatigue and loss of confidence. There is a complex association between falls and physical activity; falls are increased even in early stage disease and become progressively more frequent with disease progression.

Methods: A mixed method study of 20 people with Parkinson’s and 20 age matched controls, recruited through a local Parkinson’s service and a local authority service respectively. Inclusion criteria for participants are independent mobility with or without a walking aid, self-report of at least one fall in the previous 12 months, adequate sight, hearing and cognition to tolerate the initial assessment and interview with the addition of diagnosis of idiopathic PD for the Parkinson’s group. Participants will wear a physical activity monitor (Axivity) and a body worn camera for five days. The body worn camera (Autographer, previously SenseCam) is worn around the neck and automatically takes photographs at pre-determined intervals or when the camera detects movement. The camera captures what the wearer sees as they move around and records the location and time of the image. The images are coded and used alongside the activity monitor data to quantify the amount, type and location of activity. Semi structured interviews with each participant will explore the type of activity, identifying any barriers or facilitators. The images will be used as prompts for discussion.

Results: This technology has been used in studies of free living activity to explore the contexts within which people live and move and to better understand the relationship between behaviour and health and has recently been used with older people. The added contextual information offered by the images will enhance understanding of the influence of individual circumstances on physical activity behaviour and falls which has been highlighted as a limitation of current falls classification systems.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/can-body-worn-cameras-help-us-understand-the-complex-relationship-between-physical-activity-and-falls-in-people-with-parkinsons/