Mapping of practices and approaches of occupational therapists in Parkinson’s disease: a scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) ranks second among progressive chronic neurodegenerative diseases, with high prevalence and annual incidence. Therefore, it is necessary to update the current and developing occupational therapy options for this pathology. Objective: To map the practices and approaches of occupational therapists conducted through therapeutic interventions in PD. Method: Review conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist, based on the methodology of the Joanna Briggs Institute. The research question was formulated using the PCC (Patient, Concept, and Context) acronym, with primary and secondary terms consulted in the DeCS/MeSH multilingual thesaurus. Searches were conducted on five scientific databases between 2011 and 2020. Blind researchers were compared by the degree of agreement measured by Cohen’s kappa coefficient. Results: The findings indicate that there are at least eight categories of practices and approaches performed by occupational therapists in PD. Most procedures are conducted at home. Research in outpatient environments is the primary setting for knowledge production in the field. Strategies focused on physical and functional behaviors are most in demand in PD, with measurable results, while occupation-based interventions show modest results. Conclusion: The actions of occupational therapists in PD are highly variable, occur in different contexts, and their outcomes suggest that not all mapped options present consistent results or are not sufficiently detailed to favor a better interpretation of the findings.