The Effect of an Exercise Regimen on the Psychological Health of Parkinson's Disease Patients

This paper reports a study on the effect of an exercise regimen on the psychological health of Parkinson’s disease patients. The 11 participants of the study were Parkinson’s disease patients who were participants of a six-week exercise program titled ‘Delay the Disease,’ which was specifically designed for Parkinson’s disease patients. The participants of the study were given the Geriatric Depression Scale twice before the start of the exercise regimen, and once per week for the duration of the six-week exercise regimen. They were also given a quality of life questionnaire at the beginning and end of the regimen. The data was evaluated visually for each participant, due to the small number of participants. The results show that there could be an improvement in the depression of Parkinson’s patients with exercise, however the data are not statistically significant.