Challenges for Norwegian PC-users with parkinson's disease - A survey

Abstract

This paper presents the results from a Norwegian survey on the computer use of people with Parkinson's disease (PD), conducted through the PIKT project in the summer of 2008. The study shows that nearly 80 % of the user population has significant and severe PD related challenges using a computer. Frequent problem areas include inertia, muscle stiffness, using a computer mouse, tremor and issues related to keyboard and ergonomics. Assistance in optimizing computer use is severely lacking, non-systematic and coincidental, and the employment rate among the respondents is about half of the national average. This paper describes the main findings from this study. It highlights main challenges for the user group in question, confirms national findings on gender, computer illiteracy and usage aspects, paints a picture of the current situation for PC-users with Parkinson's disease in Norway and discusses the implications of the findings. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.