A Manualized Recreational Therapy Balance Program for Older Adults With Parkinson's and Movement Disorders

This study evaluates a manualized recreational therapy balance program for older adults with Parkinson's disease and movement disorders who live in small cities and rural areas of Oklahoma, where access to movement disorder specialists is limited. Twenty-four older adults with Parkinson's disease and movement disorders will be randomly assigned to one of two groups of 12. One group will attend the balance program continuously for 24 weeks. The other group will attend the program for 12 weeks and will then be observed for 12 weeks without the program. All sessions are led by a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and last about 50 minutes once a week. Participants will be assessed three times: before the program begins, at three months, and at six months. The assessments measure gait velocity and stride length, postural stability, fall-related confidence, anxiety and depression, and social connectedness. The purpose of the study is to learn how long a community balance program needs to continue for older adults to keep the gains they make, and how quickly those gains decline when the program ends.