Research
We are continuing an IRB-approved study to determine if Parkinson's Pals can clinically improve psychosocial outcomes in Parkinson's patients.
Article by the Davis Phinney Foundation on our efforts.
Peer-Reviewed Commentary
We published a commentary titled “Parkinson’s Pals: A Student-Led Program to Facilitate Intergenerational Connections and Promote Psychosocial Well-Being Among Persons with Parkinson’s Disease” in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. In this paper, we introduce a new student-led program to improve psychosocial well-being among persons with Parkinson's Disease by pairing them with college students. The link to the paper can be found here.
Society for Neuroscience
Jaskeerat Gujral presented an abstract titled “Parkinson’s Pals: Teaching College Students About Parkinson’s Disease Through Patient Interaction” at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), the largest neuroscience conference in the world. Jaskeerat received funding to attend the conference via the Trainee Award funded by Eli Lilly! His presented abstract can be found here..
Penn Institute on Aging
We presented at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute on Aging (IOA). Our abstract, titled "Exploring Parkinson's Disease: A Synergistic Approach to College Education through Personal Patient Encounters," garnered attention from Penn faculty and professors from other institutions.
American Psychological Association Conference
We recently presented our abstract titled "Promoting Psychosocial Health in Nursing Home Residents via an Undergraduate Mentoring Program" at the American Psychological Association (APA) Conference. In this study, we qualitatively evaluated the potential of our mentoring program to combat loneliness and improve the psychosocial health of those with Parkinson's Disease residing in nursing homes. Our findings suggest that social engagement through this program may elevate mood and reduce feelings of isolation, while also being a cost-effective model. The program appears to be beneficial for both students and nursing home residents.
Parkinson’s Foundation
Our mentor, Dr. Whitley Aamodt, presented our abstract titled “Fostering Student Clinical Awareness of Parkinson’s Disease Through Telehealth: A Qualitative Study” at the “Parkinson’s Study Group & Parkinson’s Foundation Future of PD Conference”!