Comparing activity engagement of people aged 18 to 64 years with and without Parkinson's disease

Introduction: Measuring activity engagement using the Activity Card Sort Australia (18-64) supports occupational therapists and clients to identify goals for therapeutic interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate activity engagement for people aged 18 to 64 years with and without Parkinson's disease. Method: Thirty-two participants, 16 people with Parkinson's disease (mean age 57.8) and 16 healthy adults (mean age 53.1), were required to sort 85 visual activity cards into one of five categories: 'never done', 'do not do now', 'do now', 'do less now' and 'given up'. The retained activity values were calculated and compared using the Mann-Whitney U Test. Results: The overall retained activity scores were not significantly different (p=.81); however, the group with Parkinson's disease had higher retained scores in the physical activities domain (p=.04) Conclusion: The preventative exercise regimes of people with Parkinson's disease seems to influence activity engagement patterns. A more detailed understanding of activity engagement may further help form the basis of meaningful interventions.