Objective: To examine the impact of coaching and group dynamics activities in the voice, speech and communication of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, as well as patients’ group climate itself.

Background: PD affects oral communication. Studies indicate that the group of climate therapy is an important and crucial part for the success of therapy, when opting for group care, either by choice or by necessity to account for a high clinical demand. The strategies used in work with the dynamics of groups have been performing as a tool to promote self-knowledge, assisting in the therapeutic process individually, consequently expected to greater acceptance and better diagnosis self-regulation standard for acquiring a more effective communication.

Methods: We evaluated 16 individuals, with mean age of 65.4 (SD 10.3) years, diagnosed with PD, evolution of intermediate stage (Hoehn Scale & Yahr score was 2.61 (SD 0.64). These patients had dysarthria in mild to moderate, according to Duffy scale, were stable with medication and received referrals to speech therapy individuals and they were randomly divided into two groups: Control Group- CG (8 patients), traditional therapy (12 regular therapy sessions and 4 additional support sessions), and Experimental Group-EG (8 patients), traditional therapy (12 regular therapy sessions) and 4 group dynamic strategies and coaching. The Living with Dysarthria questionnaire (LwD), apart from the self-evaluation of voice, speech and communication, and a perceptive evaluation of vocal quality were carried out in moments: Pre traditional therapy; after traditional therapy (after 1); and after support sessions/coaching strategies (after 2); in after 1 and after 2, the Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ) was also applied.

Results: CG and EG showed an improvement in LwD from pre to after 1 and 2. Voice self-evaluation was better in EG, when compared pre with after 2 and after 1 with 2, ranging from regular to very good; both presented improvement in communication self-evaluation(p=0,001). The auditory evaluation of the vocal quality was different between groups in after 1, with better voices in EG. No difference in GCQ; however, EG presented lower Avoidance scores in After 2.

Conclusions: Patients showed improvement in the self-evaluation of voice, speech and communication in both therapy methods; EG showed lower Avoidance scores, creating a more collaborative and propitious environment to speech therapy.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/group-climate-in-the-voice-therapy-of-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/