Tele assessment of Communicative effectiveness among persons with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Purpose: Parkinson’s disease can exhibit neuro-communication disorders which can negatively impact the quality of life. The current study aimed to investigate communicative effectiveness among individuals with mild and moderate Parkinson’s disease and matched controls via tele mode. Method: This cross-sectional study comprised of 20 Marathi-speaking individuals with Parkinson’s disease (mild = 10 & moderate = 10) and 20 matched controls who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All participants underwent tele assessment comprising the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Marathi (MoCA-M), motor -speech subsection of MDS-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), speech intelligibility subsection of Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment-2 (FDA-2) and Instrument to Assess Communicative Effectiveness (IACE). Results: Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference (p < 0.05) across individuals with Parkinson’s disease (mild, moderate) and control groups on the communicative domains (IACE). Tele assessment was helpful in identifying communicative morbidity and facilitate accessibility among PD patients who face disabiling physical challenges to avail SLP services. Across severity levels, performance in verbal comprehension and expression, reading, and writing was observed to be impacted. Conclusion: The communicative capabilities were seen to decline with an increase in severity of Parkinson’s disease. Both the mild and moderate Parkinson's disease groups demonstrated significant hypokinetic dysarthria and communicative impairments in various domains of IACE such as gestural communication, reading, writing, verbal comprehension, and expression, which had a direct impact on their overall communicative abilities. Tele assessment can be useful mode in rehabilitation of PD and improve communication related quality of life if timely identified and intervened.