Conversation Barriers and Strategies Used by People With Parkinson's and Their Partners to Support Conversation

People with Parkinson's experience a range of communication difficulties impacting their conversations. As conversations are a two-way or more interaction, communication partners play an important role in conversational success.

This qualitative exploratory study sought to capture the lived experience of people with Parkinson's and their communication partners regarding (i) their perceptions of barriers to successful conversations and (ii) strategies perceived as helpful to support their conversations.

Data were collected from 45 participants (25 people with Parkinson's and 20 communication partners) across five focus groups and analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Participants discussed five categories of barriers to conversation. These related to the person with Parkinson's, communication partner, conversation dynamic, background noise, and limited information and services. Participants described six categories of strategies used to support conversations. These included strategies used to prepare for conversations, during conversations, for phone use, acceptance and awareness, services and information, and engagement in activities.

People with Parkinson's face unique challenges in conversation and may benefit from a range of strategies to support conversational success. Through their lived experience of Parkinson's, they have developed strategies that support conversational success. Both the person with Parkinson's and their partner contribute to the success of a conversation. New findings revealed the impact of cognitive load on conversations. These findings warrant careful consideration in the development of future communication-focused therapeutic approaches for individuals with Parkinson's and their families.

What is already known on the subject Parkinson's disease is a motor speech disorder which not only impacts the person physically but also impacts their communication and social interaction thereby impacting their quality of life. Difficulty engaging in conversations is a common challenge reported by people with Parkinson's. Through their lived experience, people with Parkinson's and their partners have understood the common barriers they face in conversations and have developed a range of strategies to support their conversations with each other. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Participants in this study described their lived experience of Parkinson's and shared the strategies they used to support conversations. These included strategies that could be used in preparation for and during conversations, with phone use, strategies related to acceptance and awareness of the condition and accessing services and information. This work highlights the important role played by both the person with Parkinson's and their communication partner in promoting conversational success to support their quality of life. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This study provides clear implications for therapy supporting conversation in this population. It also highlights the need for future research assessing the effectiveness of conversation strategies that people with Parkinson's and their communication partners perceive to be effective.