Occupational Training for Women with Parkinson’s Disease: An Experience of Cooking Activities

Abstract

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system which frequently starts before the sixth decade of life. This is a preliminary overview concerning the effect of a training on cooking with four women with Parkinson’s Disease. Cooking is a complex activity that requires functions as attention, memory and task organization; fine motor skills and bimanual coordination are also involved. Moreover, this kind of activity is important for women to maintain their social role as housewives. The assessment was done before and after the training and included: The Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life questionnaire (PDQL), Schwab & England Scale, Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and a cooking test. The training consisted of 10 group sessions of 90 minutes each one. At the end of the cooking training, the level of disability, measured by the UPDRS, decreased for all participants as well as the time required to perform a cooking test. Scores on other test were unvaried. A cooking training may be useful to improve the course of the Parkinson’s disease and should be included in a comprehensive rehabilitation program.