Low Vision Occupational Therapy in Parkinson's Disease

The primary aim of this study is to determine whether low-vision occupational therapy improves quality of life in Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. Low-vision occupational therapy has not been previously studied in PD patients, and we suspect that this is a beneficial treatment option for PD patients as vision impairment is common in the PD patient population. Our primary objective will assess whether quality of life was improved following a low-vision occupational therapy session.

This project will be an exploratory study that will evaluate the benefits of low vision occupational therapy in the treatment of PD using the Revised Self-Report Assessment of Functional Visual Performance (R-SRAFVP) as the primary outcome measure. This tool assesses 33 vision-dependent ADLs ranging from personal care, leisurely activities, clothing management, meal preparation, etc. Patients are able to rank their ability to complete these tasks as independent, minimally difficult, moderately difficult, greatly difficult, unable, or not applicable. This will allow us to capture potential changes in the patient's ability to complete vision-specific ADLs following low vision occupational therapy. In addition, we will also evaluate quality of life using the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), to compare this broad outcome measure with the R-SRAFVP.

The anticipated low vision occupational therapy intervention strategy includes training participants to compensate for their vision more effectively for increased participation in ADLs and IADLs.

Occupational therapy may include methods to effectively modify environments (such as addition of task lighting), training in the use of assistive technology (such as voice activated devices), teaching new skills (such as sensory substitution) and prevention of accidents and injury (such as home safety modifications).

Revised Self-Report Assessment of Functional Visual Performance (R-SRAFVP). This tool assesses 33 vision-dependent ADLs ranging from personal care, leisurely activities, clothing management, meal preparation, etc. Patients are able to rank their ability to complete these tasks as independent, minimally difficult, moderately difficult, greatly difficult, unable, or not applicable.

Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39); The PDQ-39 assesses how often people affected by Parkinson's experience difficulties across 8 dimensions of daily living including relationships, social situations and communication

Inclusion Criteria: 18 and older seen at UAB Movement Disorders Clinic diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's Disease able to read, speak, and understand spoken English. Exclusion Criteria: minors cognitively impaired