Parkinson's Disease Society Joins Forces with Healthy Interactions to Launch new Education Programme
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As part of a Europe-wide drive to improve access to information and education for people with Parkinson’s Disease, the Parkinson’s Disease Society (PDS) is to launch a new education initiative with American company, Healthy Interactions.
The Conversation Map™ tool programme will address the needs of people at all stages of Parkinson’s as well as the needs of their families and carers. The interactive sessions will encourage people with Parkinson’s to explore facts about their condition themselves and with peers, helping them to make more informed decisions and choices and to become more motivated to take positive action in dealing with their disease. The key outcome will be better self-management.
The three foot by five foot Conversation Map tool features images, information, and exercises designed to be fun and engaging for small groups of between three and ten people who are guided through their interactive sessions by a trained healthcare ‘facilitator’.
Each session focuses on promoting discussion around key areas of the condition, encouraging peer-to-peer debate and aiming to increase awareness and understanding. The facilitator is present to guide discussion and stimulate the exchange of information in a relaxed and informal environment that is the antithesis of traditional, didactic education.
Steve Ford, Chief Executive of the PDS, underlines the importance of this new approach to education: “In 2008 the UK Parkinson’s Disease Society survey, ‘Life with Parkinson’s today – room for improvement’, identified that three out of ten people diagnosed with Parkinson’s in the previous twelve months felt they were not given clear information about the condition and medication at the time they were diagnosed, with nearly half (47%) feeling that they needed more information about the condition. This is not acceptable.
We have a clear responsibility to give all people coping with Parkinson’s, access to comprehensive information about their condition; to put in place tools to support better self management and guidance on where they can turn for help. The agreement we have reached with Healthy Interactions aims to put in place an interactive, engaging series of education programmes that helps meet these needs.”
Recent surveys of people with Parkinson’s by the PDS and the European Parkinson’s Disease Association (EPDA) underline the continuing need for progress across all aspects of care provision. In particular the requirement for better information provision was highlighted.
Good information about symptoms, treatment options and what help is available to people living with the condition is vital to help them live independent lives, and better manage the condition for themselves. Coinciding with these findings the UK Government has made it clear it is keen to place people with long-term conditions at the ‘centre of their own care’.
The Conversation Map™ tool programme will address the needs of people at all stages of Parkinson’s as well as the needs of their families and carers. The interactive sessions will encourage people with Parkinson’s to explore facts about their condition themselves and with peers, helping them to make more informed decisions and choices and to become more motivated to take positive action in dealing with their disease. The key outcome will be better self-management.
The three foot by five foot Conversation Map tool features images, information, and exercises designed to be fun and engaging for small groups of between three and ten people who are guided through their interactive sessions by a trained healthcare ‘facilitator’.
Each session focuses on promoting discussion around key areas of the condition, encouraging peer-to-peer debate and aiming to increase awareness and understanding. The facilitator is present to guide discussion and stimulate the exchange of information in a relaxed and informal environment that is the antithesis of traditional, didactic education.
Steve Ford, Chief Executive of the PDS, underlines the importance of this new approach to education: “In 2008 the UK Parkinson’s Disease Society survey, ‘Life with Parkinson’s today – room for improvement’, identified that three out of ten people diagnosed with Parkinson’s in the previous twelve months felt they were not given clear information about the condition and medication at the time they were diagnosed, with nearly half (47%) feeling that they needed more information about the condition. This is not acceptable.
We have a clear responsibility to give all people coping with Parkinson’s, access to comprehensive information about their condition; to put in place tools to support better self management and guidance on where they can turn for help. The agreement we have reached with Healthy Interactions aims to put in place an interactive, engaging series of education programmes that helps meet these needs.”
Recent surveys of people with Parkinson’s by the PDS and the European Parkinson’s Disease Association (EPDA) underline the continuing need for progress across all aspects of care provision. In particular the requirement for better information provision was highlighted.
Good information about symptoms, treatment options and what help is available to people living with the condition is vital to help them live independent lives, and better manage the condition for themselves. Coinciding with these findings the UK Government has made it clear it is keen to place people with long-term conditions at the ‘centre of their own care’.
