Objective: To evaluate adherence rate, barriers to attendance, and safety of a telemonitoring physical exercise program for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD); To evaluate the individual and their family members perceived overall experience of the telemonitoring physical exercise program.

Background: Physical exercise via telemonitoring is a great option to ensure that individuals with high risk to COVID-19 infection, as elderly and people with PD, can maintain their daily exercise routine during the social isolation. However, there are barriers to adherence and attendance with remote physical rehabilitation that needs the more investigation.

Method: This is a longitudinal study, engaging nineteen individuals diagnosed with idiopathic PD in a face-to-face community rehabilitation program. The time of intervention was 24 weeks, twice a week, and the physical exercise sessions were asynchronous. Each session included a single video with the following parts: warm-up, balance exercises, aerobic capacity training, resistance training and a cool-down and respective prescriptions (as time, sets and repetitions), instructions about safety and alternatives exercises. Before engaging in this remote program, all participants were physically and cognitively evaluated. During the telemonitoring program, they completed two questionnaires (one weekly and another monthly) to seek for: adherence rate at entrance, attendance rate, barriers to attend, safety, and overall experience of the program.

Results: Only one participant did not perform any exercise and 18 participants completed between 2 to 34 exercise sessions. Participants with a caregiver showed higher attendance rates. The main barriers to attend the program were: pain (21,5%); and lack of motor skills and reduced physical fitness (18,2%). In relation to safety of the program, the most frequently reported concern was fear of falling (10%). Although participants reported health benefits with the program and had positive experiences for themselves and their family, most participants prefer a face-to-face program.

Conclusion: The asynchronous telemonitoring physical exercise program was safe, showed moderate adherence, with attendance rate depending on the presence of a caregiver or family member.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/telemonitoring-physical-exercise-program-during-covid-19-pandemic-for-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease-adherence-rate-barriers-to-attend-safety-and-overall-experience/