Communication difficulties in individuals with parkinson's disease having motor speech disorders seen at Parkinson's Si Buko uganda.

Abstract

Only a small number of individuals in Uganda have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and a large number remain undiagnosed due to factors like stigmatization, poor screening for the condition, and ignorance about the condition. This population presents with motor speech disorders but they are often overlooked in favor of general physical changes. These motor speech disorders cause communication difficulties in addition to other communication changes that occur in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. In turn, the communication difficulties have a great impact on their quality of life. This study was carried out to understand the communication difficulties faced by individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease seen at Parkinson’s Si Buko clinic, who have motor speech disorders and how they affect their lives. It was a cross sectional study among 30 individuals carried out in June, 2023 using questionnaires to obtain data. All participants were found to have hypokinetic dysarthria that’s commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease. Communication difficulties faced included difficulty expressing their thoughts and emotions, understanding speech, emotions and nonverbal cues of others, word finding difficulties, difficulty holding conversations and hearing difficulties. These difficulties negatively impacted their social interaction and participation, autonomy and access to services leading to isolation, low self-esteem, stress, anxiety and depression.