Impact of communication difficulty on the quality of life in individuals with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Context: Communication plays a fundamental role in life as an essential aspect of relationships, personal development, identity, and social interaction. Parkinson’s disease (PD) gradually affects the ability of individuals to effectively communicate, affecting the abovementioned factors; therefore, it severely affects their quality of life. Aim: To compare the impact of communication difficulty on quality of life between individuals with PD and neurologically healthy (NH) individuals. Methods and Material: A total of 15 individuals with PD and 15 NH individuals, between the ages of 45 and 85 years, participated in this study. Quality of communication life (QoCL) was estimated using the Tamil version of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association–Quality of Communication Life scale. Results: The Mann–Whitney U test was performed to verify significant differences in the QoCL scores between PD and NH individuals. The mean QoCL scores were observed to be lower in the PD group than those in the NH group across the following three domains: socialization/activities, confidence/self-concept, and roles and responsibilities. However, the QoCL score was significantly different for only two domains: roles and responsibilities (p = 0.00) and socialization/activities (p = 0.00). Conclusion: Identifying the impact of communication difficulty in daily life will help speech–language pathologists in planning communication rehabilitation, prioritization of goals, counselling, structuring client-centered therapeutic strategies, and documenting outcomes to improve the QoCL in individuals with PD.