Parkinson's disease: The occupational therapeutic treatment in the perspective of professionals and elderly

Abstract

The world population aging has been happening fast and one of the great challenges of this century is the creation of strategies for quality of life and for the care of the elderly population that still presents a high prevalence of chronic degenerative and incapacitating diseases, among them the Disease of Parkinson This qualitative study had as objective to know the interventions of the occupational therapist next to the elderly with Parkinson's Disease, as well as the conceptions of the elderly with Parkinson's Disease on the occupational therapy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight occupational therapists attending elderly people with Parkinson's disease and six elderly with the disease. The data were analyzed through the thematic analysis proposed by Minayo. From this, the following categories emerged that guided the discussion: understanding about Occupational Therapy by the elderly; objectives of occupational therapy; evaluations, techniques, resources, and approaches in Occupational Therapy and the perception about the results of occupational therapy. It is concluded that the elderly have difficulty in understanding the profession, that there are differences between the conceptions of the elderly and the professionals in relation to the objectives of the treatment, the techniques and the methods used by the professionals were different, but mostly based in motor components, and that the efficacy of treatment is strongly related to the stage of the disease in which the elderly are and to their adherence to treatment.