Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026
Community-based Adapted Tango Dancing for Individuals with Parkinson's Disease and Older Adults
Published on: December 9, 2014
Quantifying Social Connectedness in Parkinson's Disease: Reliability and Validity of a Clinical Assessment Toolkit
David Andrés González1, Michelle Hyczy de Siqueira Tosin1, Tila Warner-Rosen1
1Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Background:
Loneliness and isolation impact health detrimentally but are understudied in Parkinson's disease (PD). Outcome measurement properties for social connection remain unexplored in PD.
Objective:
To evaluate the measurement properties of six social connection outcomes in PD.
Methods:
We evaluated internal consistency, structural validity, and construct validity for measures of loneliness (brief UCLA Loneliness Scale [ULS3], short and long de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale [dJGLS], social isolation [Cohen Social Network Index-SNI total people, SNI high contact networks], and social support brief Perceived Social Support Scale [PSS]).
Results:
We administered measures to 178 PD participants (Mage = 67.9; 81.5% at Hoehn & Yahr stage 2). There was strong internal consistency, content validity across outcomes, and a 1-factor structure (PSS, ULS3) and a 2-factor structure (dJGLS) for two measures each.
Conclusions:
We provide a toolbox for clinicians and researchers studying social connection in PD.
Related Concept Videos
01:23Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast,...
01:01Dosage Regimens: Partial Pharmacokinetic Parameters
01:12Statistical Software for Data Analysis and Clinical Trials
01:12Hazard Ratio
For example, in a clinical trial...