The specific aims of this research are to: (1) Provide a systematic description and analysis of how patients experience Parkinson's disease; (2) Identify variables that influence patients' responses to their illness; (3) Develop and refine appropriate methos for the study of psychological aspects of Parkinsonism; and (4) Formulate hypotheses concerning the process of psycho-social adaptation to Parkinson's disease. The ultimate objective is to establish the groundwork for a study of the natural history of psychological adaptation to this disease. At the very least the data gathered from this preliminary study will provide valuable and unique practical information to medical personnel who care for Parkinson's patients and their families. Forty couples in which one spouse has Parkinson's disease will be recruited from the Parkinson's Clinic at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. Each couple will interviewed on four or five separate occasions. The first interview will be with the couple, the second and fourth with the patient, and the third will be a collateral interview with the spouse. The interview data will be quantified by use of Q-sourt methodology, in which the specific content of items will be tailored to the purpose of studying the psycho-social aspectes of Parkinsonism. Data exeternal to those derived from the interviews will also be collected, including; the Symptom Check List 90, the Adjective Check List, the Mini-Mental State, and the Mental Status questionnaire. Finally, comparisons will be made between the proposed sample of Parkinson patients and healthy, middle-aged subjects from R. S. Lazarus' Stress and Coping Project and cancer patients studied through intensive interviews at Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter