Lived experiences of word-finding difficulties in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease: a qualitative...

The progression of Parkinson's disease is known to lead to dysarthria, but the occurrence and impact of word-finding difficulties on communication has been less studied. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of word-finding difficulties in everyday life among people with Parkinson's disease.

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were performed with individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The interviews were transcribed and analysed with an inductive approach using conventional qualitative content analysis.

Fifteen participants (mean age 72 years and varying in degree of severity and time since diagnosis) were included. Three main categories emerged in the analysis: (a) Word-finding difficulties have consequences in everyday life, (b) Influencing factors in a variable word-finding ability, and (c) Coping with word-finding difficulties. The result showed that word-finding difficulties affected the participants to variable extents and that access to communicative strategies also varied. Changes in communicative participation were described along with factors affecting the word-finding ability, for example, health status and contextual factors like conversation partners.

Word-finding difficulties may impact the daily lives of people with Parkinson's disease. Speech-language pathologists can play a key role in assessing word-finding ability and assisting in development of functional communication strategies, involving family members and professional carers.