Telehealth Perceptions and Experiences of Persons With Parkinson's Disease During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) experienced a shift from in-person to telehealth encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the perceptions of telehealth visits by PwPD to determine their views of its acceptability. One hundred and six PwPD completed an online survey about their experiences with technology and telehealth visits. Frequency analysis was used to characterize survey responses, and independent samples t tests to examine differences in the perceived quality/convenience of telehealth relative to in-person encounters. Nearly all participants (93%) engaged in at least one telehealth appointment between 2020 and 2021, of whom 60% rated the perceived quality/convenience as equal to or better than in-person visits, regardless of demographics or Parkinson's disease duration. Research is needed to determine if additional factors impact engagement with telehealth visits and perception of their quality and convenience, and advocacy efforts are needed to protect the expansion of telehealth services as an alternative to in-person care, especially for clinical populations for whom traveling to in-person health care visits may be especially onerous.