Objective: To evaluate and understand the perceived benefits and barriers towards physical activity in newly-diagnosed people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP).

Background: The evidence base to support regular physical activity in the management of Parkinson’s disease is increasing. Regular exercise and physical activity is now understood to play a key role in short-term symptom relief, as well as possibly slowing disease progression. A new patient pathway has been developed at Plymouth Hospitals NHS trust, an aspect of which entails providing patients with patient-centred information on how to become and/or remain physically active. This study aims to achieve a better understanding of the perceived benefits and barriers for patients in undertaking regular physical activity.

Methods: Two questionnaires, the 4-item Physical Activity Cycle of Change and 43-item Exercise Benefits and Barriers Survey, will be administered over the telephone to 30 newly-diagnosed PwP from 3 Parkinson’s services in Devon. The first serves to objectively assess patients’ current overall level of physical activity as well as their readiness to undertake regular exercise. The second aims to quantify patient’s attitudes towards exercise, and provide data on patients’ perceived benefits of and barriers to undertaking physical activity. Demographic data such as age, gender, time since diagnosis, and current pharmacological therapy (if any) will also be collected.

Results: This project is still in the data collection phase. Multivariate analysis of the various demographic factors, and analysis of specific responses will hopefully serve to provide insight into the overall perceptions of patients towards exercise, as well as highlight any specific perceived barriers to exercise that may be prevalent in the patient population.

Conclusions: It is expected the findings will provide evidence that certain factors influence patients’ perceptions towards exercise, and any specific barriers highlighted by the analysis could hold implications for the way in which healthcare professionals discuss exercise with newly-diagnosed patients. More tailored and patient-centred promotion of regular exercise for individual patients will hopefully result in an increase in patients’ level of physical activity, and play an important role in the effort to improve their overall health and quality of life.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/barriers-to-exercise-in-newly-diagnosed-parkinsons-disease/