Study Reveals Six Primary Parkinson Disease Coping Types

Strategies to manage life with Parkinson disease can be categorized into six predominate coping types, according to a study published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease. 

“This qualitative study explores how persons with Parkinson's disease experience everyday life with a complex symptom profile and how they manage the consequential challenges in their daily life,” researchers explained, “as well as the motivation and consequences of these coping behaviors.” 

Researchers interviewed 34 patients with Parkinson disease, performed qualitative analysis of patient feedback, and arrived at six main coping behavior types: convincing behavior, economizing behavior, encapsulating behavior, evasive behavior, adaptable behavior, and dynamic behavior. Each type contains different behavioral traits. 

Awareness of a patient’s coping behavior is necessary for a patient-centered approach to care, according to the study. As a patient undergoes disease-related changes, psychoeducational interventions to promote coping skills may be necessary to maintain integrity, researchers advised.

“The strategies embedded in each of the six types are diverse,” they wrote, “but all participants seek to maintain their integrity in different ways, leading to the main motivation ‘to stay the same person.’” 

—Jolynn Tumolo 

Reference: 

Thomsen TH, Jørgensen LB, Kjær TW, Winge K, Haahr A. Identification of Pre-Dominant Coping Types in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: An Abductive Content Analysis of Video-Based Narratives [published online ahead of print, 2020 Nov 6]. J Parkinsons Dis. 2020;10.3233/JPD-202217. doi:10.3233/JPD-202217