A short virtual reality training programme improved the movement speed of discrete aiming tasks when participants reached for real stationary objects. However, the transfer effect was minimal when reaching for real moving objects.

ObjectivesGeneric and disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments may reflect different aspects of lives in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and thus be associated with different determinants. We used the same cluster of predictors for the generic and disease-specific HRQoL instruments to examine and compare the determinants of HRQoL.MethodHRQoL was measured in 92 patients with PD by the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the 39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). The predictors included demographic and disease characteristics, and motor and non-motor symptoms. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify HRQoL determinants.ResultsDepressive symptoms and motor difficulties of daily living were the first two significant determinants for both instruments. The other significant determinant for the SF-36 was fatigue and non-motor difficulties of daily living, and for the PDQ-39 was motor signs of PD.ConclusionsThe results suggest the importance of the evaluation and intervention focused on depressive symptoms and motor difficulties of daily living in patients with PD. In addition, the SF-36 seems more related to non-motor symptoms, while the PDQ-39 appears more associated with motor symptoms. This information is important for understanding results from these two instruments and for choosing which to use.

These results suggest that, for people with Parkinson's disease, a small-to-medium-sized handle is more suitable than a large-sized built-up handle.

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The trend toward international cooperation in research projects emphasizes the need to translate existing validated tools into local languages. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of a Chinese-translated version of the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Seventy-three Taiwanese individuals with Parkinson's disease were consecutively recruited. The internal consistency reliability was satisfactory for all domains (Cronbach's alpha = 0.80-0.96), except for the social support, cognition, and bodily discomfort domains (alpha = 0.58-0.63). The convergent validity was also supported by strong correlations between domains measuring related constructs of the PDQ-39 and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (r = 0.81-0.86), and between those of the PDQ-39 and SF-36 (r = -0.70--0.93). Except for the bodily discomfort domain, all domains of the PDQ-39 significantly discriminated patients at different stages, as indicated by the Hoehn and Yahr scale. Overall, the results of this study are consistent with the reports of the PDQ-39 in other countries (e.g., UK, Spain, US, and Greece), which suggests that the PDQ-39 is appropriate for use among Taiwanese individuals with PD. This study lays the foundation for future combinations and comparisons of data cross-nationally.