Occupational Therapy Led Social Prescription for People With Parkinson Disease

Running, not enrolling · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Parkinson Disease

In brief

Loneliness is an epidemic that the U.S. Surgeon General implored must be addressed by society as a whole. Increased loneliness (i.e., distressing feelings of isolation) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) has a pervasive impact and is associated with worsened motor and non-motor symptoms, and quality of life. The investigators expect that individuals participating socially in the community would experience less loneliness. However, for individuals with PD participating in community-based group exercise programs, the investigators have found that over one third still report being lonely. Therefore, an evidence-based program needs to be added to address a significant problem of loneliness for people with PD-and occupational therapy is the leading discipline to add the intervention because social participation is one of eight occupations that an occupational therapist is focused on optimizing. The chief executive officer at the Parkinson Association of the Rockies (PAR), members of the Colorado State University Occupational Therapy Department, and members of the University of Colorado's Parkinson's Exercise Research Consortium have teamed up to address pervasive loneliness. Social prescription is a prime evidence-based intervention to add to existing PD community-based exercise classes because it has been shown to reduce loneliness. For this project, the investigators detect participants in the 'lonely' range through a standardized assessment. The investigators will work with PAR staff who will refer individuals identifying as 'lonely' to an occupational therapist, who will complete an individualized occupational profile and write the appropriate social prescription from 11 different interventions (examples include: intergenerational intervention, animal companions, physical activity, occupational therapy) from established community resources recommended for social prescription. The proposed project is designed with three primary goals: (1) determine the reach of the social prescription program, (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the program at one site, and (3) determine implementation strategies for scalability.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT06447207

Run by

Colorado State University

People needed

40

Starts

2024-08-13

Expected to finish

2026-12-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-06-03

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• At least 18 years old
• Have a diagnosis of Parkinson Disease
• Have participated in at least one exercise class or support group in the last year
• Scored ≥5/9 on the UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale during pre-screening
• Agree to participate in a 6-month program including a social prescription and six visits with an occupational therapist or occupational therapy doctoral student

You may not qualify if…

• Have ever been diagnosed with dementia
• Not fluent in English

Where it is running

• Colorado State University — Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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