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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Chris LovegroveORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Background Anxiety is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). There is no specific pharmacological intervention for people with PD who experience anxiety. Current non-pharmacological treatments have mixed or inconclusive results and there does not appear to be a non-pharmacological intervention for people with PD disease and anxiety that focuses on activity and participation.Objective To co-produce an occupation-focused complex intervention to help people with PD live well with anxiety that community-based occupational therapists can deliver.Design Six-stage complex intervention development was conducted using online logic modelling and a participatory approach to organise the new intervention’s key inputs, processes and outcomes important to people with PD living with anxiety.Setting Data were collected via online logic modelling sessions involving people with Parkinson’s, care partners and occupational therapists across the UK from April 2022 to June 2022.Participants 34 participants were recruited (people with PD n=14, care partners n=9, occupational therapists n=11) for the online logic modelling sessions.Results Resources to support the new intervention (‘inputs’) include adequate resourcing, education for professionals and people with PD, flexibility of delivery methods and goal setting. The intervention’s actions to produce outcomes (‘processes’) should include 1:1 support, lifestyle management, providing meaningful information, collaborative goal setting, therapeutic use of everyday activities, and involvement of friends and families. The intended results (‘outcomes’) should include a reduction in anxiety symptoms, people with PD enjoying more meaningful activities, increased understanding of anxiety and PD, improvement in clinical outcomes and improvement of service-level outcomes. These key aspects were incorporated into an intervention manual, educational material and training video.Conclusions We have systematically coproduced a new occupation-focused complex intervention to help people with PD to live well with anxiety. This provides the basis for the next project in which this intervention will be tested for feasibility.Trial registration number ISRCTN62762494.
Author(s): Lovegrove CL, Bannigan K, Marsden J, Sturkenboom IWMH
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: BMJ Open
Year: 2026
Volume: 16
Print publication date: 22/02/2026
Online publication date: 22/02/2026
Acceptance date: 09/12/2025
Date deposited: 23/02/2026
ISSN (electronic): 2044-6055
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107930
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107930
Data Access Statement: Data are available on reasonable request.
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