Parkinson’s disease and the need for technological tools to support communication: qualitative study

Introduction. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with multiple and progressive physical, cognitive and social symptoms that can impair people’s communication skills. Various digital applications exist to support people’s communication, but none has been scientifically validated for PD. Methodology. Inductive qualitative analysis was conducted on 14 interviews of people with PD to assess the impact of the disease on their communication skills and the solutions they envisage. Results. Participants express the willingness to maintain social relationships and use many compensatory strategies to do so. The use of specific technology to address communication difficulties has not been cited directly. However, it has been noticed that many participants use different software and numerical applications to communicate such as instant messaging and videoconference. Participants consider a simple, intuitive, and adaptable technology to support communication. Functions should be scalable in relation with disease progression.