Merging Yoga and Occupational Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease: Program Adaptation and Development

Purpose: To adapt the Merging Yoga and Occupational Therapy program and develop the Merging Yoga and Occupational Therapy for Parkinson’s disease (MY-OT for PD) program, designed to target fall risk management. Creating a new program involved the targeted development of Stage 1 manuals. Methods: Researchers employed a pragmatic qualitative design to focus on meeting the purpose of the study. Stage 1 manuals were created following a literature review, a focus group of participants with PD, and individual interviews with experts in practice or research. Visual familiarization with data, generation of conclusions, and results verification were used to translate participant feedback into manual revisions. Results: Themes included revisions to model, content, and delivery. Revisions were incorporated into Stage 1 manuals to create a PD-specific program to improve fall risk management. Conclusion: A structured process is necessary to create Stage 1 manuals in a novel population prior to feasibility and pilot testing.