Improvisational Dance for Parkinson Disease

Study Summary

The long-term goal of this work is to maintain or improve daily function of people with PD by addressing cognition. The overall objective is to discover interventions that aid in cognitive functioning. The central hypothesis is that engagement in an improvisational dance (ID) class will benefit cognition among people with PD. Improvisational dance involves spontaneously generated movement, similar to how one moves in everyday life. The literature shows that ID classes positively impact motor impairments associated with PD, such as balance, gait, and functional mobility. Along with being physically demanding, ID requires the use and coordination of a number of cognitive capacities to properly execute movements. This type of activity challenges, and thus may strengthen, cognitive processes such as motor planning, decision making, flexible thinking, initiation, and execution, which may give people cognitive based strategies to be utilized in various aspects of daily life. By improving motor function and/or cognition, ID may also contribute to improved daily functioning, or the ability to perform and participate in daily activities. Despite these theoretical links, evidence for the effect of ID on cognition and overall daily function is limited. The current project objective is to address this gap and better understand the effects of ID for people with PD. Specifically, it will test the effect of IMPROVment®, a method of ID designed for people with PD, on cognition and daily function. Participants' cognition will be assessed at baseline (T1) using the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery, the Alternate Uses Task, and the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity. Global cognition will be assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. They then will be randomly assigned to either the immediate intervention (ID) or waitlist-control (WC) group. The ID group will start the 12-week IMPROVment® intervention, which consists of weekly ID classes that progress according to a standardized m

Primary Outcome

A comprehensive, performance-based test comprised of motor, emotion, sensation, and cognition assessments. For the purpose of this study, the investigators will be using the cognitive battery to assess processes involved in learning and comprehension (i.e. thinking, remembering, problem-solving, judging). The battery consists of tasks involving the use of executive function, memory, attention, and language.

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Improvisational Dance Class