The Effectiveness of Dance Intervention for Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Fear of falling and increased fall risk is a common issue for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Secondary to balance and coordination complications experienced these individuals can experience extreme difficulty navigating their environment because of compromised mobility. This difficulty can manifest, causing mobility issues, insecurity with functional mobility, and transitioning from one position to another. The resulting effects of PD can drastically influence the quality of life in which individuals with PD experience. The impact can present in fear of transferring from seated to standing positions, inability in completing daily self-care tasks, inability to participate in activities which bring an individual enjoyment, and result in significant fatigue levels experienced. The purpose of this doctoral capstone experience is to introduce dance as a fun and interactive exercise-based intervention. Ideally, introducing a Samba dance style to the participants of the study will decrease the risk/frequency of falls among participants, improve engagement in Activities of Daily Living (ADL)/ Instrumental Activities of Daily living (IADL) and improve quality of life. During the study, participants engaged in one weekly Samba dance intervention accompanied by a warm-up and stretch routine to address issues. Four separate subjective assessments were implemented addressing independence with ADL/IADLs, a fall risk/mobility measure, an assessment addressing fatigue levels experienced, and a measurement to see the strain placed on caregivers. The results of the study are inconclusive and have several statistical variations among the four participants which completed both -pre and -post-assessments. The doctoral capstone student hypothesized that with objective measures implemented, increased frequency of the intervention, and a larger sample size a similar, future study may provide positive results when addressing improvements in independence with ADL/IADL performance, improved mobility/decrease in fall risk, and improved overall quality of life.