ABSTRACT
Objective: Alexander technique (AT) is a cognitive embodiment approach applied during daily life. We tested the feasibility and potential of online AT-based group courses for people living with PD (PwP) and included care partners to enhance dyadic relationship and retention of benefits. Background: An RCT showed that 1:1 AT sessions reduced motor symptoms in PwP with retention of benefits at 6 months [1-2]. Recent data suggest in-person AT-based group courses also hold promise. The COVID-19 pandemic gave an opportunity to test synchronous online AT-based courses. Methods: Design: Uncontrolled feasibility trial;3 groups met for 105 min, twice/wk, for 8 or 9 wks. Participants: 16 PwP and 14 care partners began the course. Intervention: Courses were delivered in-home via Zoom. Coursework included functional anatomy and self-management strategies via verbal instruction, anatomical models and images, demonstration, and activities. AT principles were embedded in everyday acts such as gait, sit-to-stand, speech, and IADLs. Review handouts and session recordings were provided. Outcome Measures: Functional reach, one-leg stance, TUG, 7-item Physical Performance Test, symptommanagement self-report, anonymous course evaluations, posture photos, audio interviews. Results: 94% of PwP completed the course (c.f. 65% for in-person course). Average course attendance by PwP was 86% (c.f. 91% in-person). PwP improved functional reach (p = .03) and simulated eating (p = .06). Subjectively, PWP reported improved physical self-control and ability to manage falls, shuffling gait, upright posture, garbled speech, and anxiety (all p < .05). On a 0-10 scale, evaluations averaged >9 for novelty of ideas and practicality of tools for physical symptom-management and for care partners' likelihood to remember and use what they had learned, and > 8.5 for everyone feeling better prepared to meet the daily demands of living with PD. Conclusion: AT training shows promise to improve selfmanagement of PD motor and non-motor symptoms. Online classes can increase accessibility and retention for PwP and their care partners. Larger RCTs are needed to statistically verify improvement, optimize delivery, compare to other approaches, and investigate AT combined with exercise. Six-month follow-up data are being collected for presentation, along with subjective data from care partners about their partners' symptom management.
ABSTRACT
This research aims to analyze the structure and content of the social representation of the novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, paying particular attention to socially constructed meanings, in order to understand in what way the Covid-19 pandemic is going to take form in the collective consciousness. The study involved 484 Italian citizens, recruited through snowball sampling. Data were collected using the free association technique and the inductive term "Coronavirus", by an online questionnaire administered between April 17 and April 26, 2020. Participants were also asked to clarify the meaning of each of the three words elicited. The corpus of words was analyzed by using EVOC 2005 software, adopting a structural approach and following the prototypical method. The corpus of sentences related to the meanings of the words has been analyzed through an inductive content analysis supported by Nvivo10 software. The social representation of Covid-19 is structured around fear, which represents the shared emotion that revolves around the risk of contagion and the current pandemic state. Alongside these elements that constitute the central system, the representation is enriched with further terms located in the near peripheries, probably shared by certain subgroups and related to physical consequences, to the daily situation of quarantine, and knowledge about the virus. The other elements related for example to specific feelings, to the perception of danger, or the protection are probably anchored to subjective experiences. Some relevant aspects, such as parallelism with other representations, the role of the media, and emotions, have been identified and discussed.