It takes two: the influence of dance partners on the perceived enjoyment and benefits during participation in partnered ballroom dance classes for people with Parkinson's.

Purpose: To explore the views of people with Parkinson's and their dance partners on the influence and issues surrounding dancing with an able-bodied dance partner during partnered ball room dance classes.

Methods: In depth, semi-structured interviews explored purposively selected participants' experiences and views about dance classes. Fourteen people with Parkinson's and their dance partners (six spouses, two friends/relatives, five volunteers) were interviewed within a month of completing the 10-week dance class program.

A design to investigate the feasibility and effects of partnered ballroom dancing on people with Parkinson disease: randomized controlled trial protocol.

Background: Self-help and physical leisure activities has become increasingly important in the maintenance of safe and functional mobility among an increasingly elderly population. Preventing the cycle of deterioration, falling, inactivity, dependency, and secondary complications in people with Parkinson disease (PD) is a priority. Research has shown that people with PD are interested in dance and although the few existing trials are small, initial proof of principle trials from the United States have demonstrated beneficial effects on balance control, gait, and activity levels.

Hope, expectations and recovery from illness: a narrative synthesis of qualitative research.

Aim: This paper is a report of a narrative literature review conducted to explore how expectations and wants are distinguished in empirical research on hope and illness and the related issues of realistic hope and temporality.

Background: Particularized hope has been identified as comprising wants and expectations. The distinction is important in relation to debates around 'realistic' hopes, the temporal dimension of hope and hope-sustaining strategies.

Exercise on prescription schemes for stroke patients post-discharge from physiotherapy.

Purpose: 'Exercise on prescription' (EoP) schemes run by fitness instructors in leisure centres in the UK have potential to promote continued rehabilitation and activity engagement post-discharge from stroke physiotherapy. This study explores the views of physiotherapists, stroke patients and fitness instructors about the appropriateness and acceptability of EoP schemes for stroke patients post-discharge from physiotherapy.

Method: This qualitative study collected data from stroke patients referred to EoP, fitness instructors and referring physiotherapists (n = 30).

Continuity, transition and participation: preparing clients for life in the community post-stroke.

Aims: To examine issues of continuity and transition facing clients as they return to life in the community following stroke and the role of rehabilitation in this process.

Key Findings And Implications: The sudden onset of disability following a stroke represents a major disruption to the continuity of a person's life experience. Rehabilitation has an important role in the transition from the non-disabled to the disabled state however current rehabilitation services and outcomes post-stroke focus on functional recovery rather than on a return to meaningful roles and activities and pay little attention to the transition from the non-disabled to the disabled self.

The experience of being disabled and obese.

Purpose: This qualitative study was designed to explore the experiences of disabled and severely obese people living in the community. The challenges that their size and disabilities posed within their homes and in accessing community facilities were explored, with particular reference to the provision and use of assistive technologies.

Methods: The study comprised in-depth interviews with a sample of six severely obese, disabled people using a grounded theory approach.

Recovery plateau following stroke: fact or fiction?

Purpose: 'Plateau' is an expression frequently used in relation to decisions to discharge patients from physiotherapy following stroke. This paper critically considers the concept of recovery plateau in stroke, exploring (i) the evidence for plateau, (ii) potential contributing factors, and (iii) the consequences for patients, therapists and services.

Search Strategy: The concept of recovery plateau in stroke was reviewed drawing on standard critical appraisal methodology for the search strategy and critique.

Falling in Parkinson's disease: the impact on informal caregivers.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the views and experiences of the informal caregivers of repeat fallers with Parkinson's disease.

Method: Individuals were invited to participate in this study if they were the informal caregiver of a person with Parkinson's disease (PD) who had experienced more than one fall in the previous 12 months. Participants were interviewed about their experience of managing falls using a semi-structured interview schedule.

Discharge from physiotherapy following stroke: the management of disappointment.

Stroke tends to result in a range of disabilities which have been shown to benefit from rehabilitation, in particular physiotherapy. Patients tend to have high expectations of the extent of recovery they can achieve through physiotherapy, and subsequently view discharge from physiotherapy before they have achieved that degree of recovery as disappointing and distressing. Current literature suggest that explicit discussion between physiotherapists and patients of the anticipated extent of recovery tends to be avoided during the programme of physiotherapy treatment, making discharge from physiotherapy the point at which potentially differing expectations might be expected to be confronted.

Nurse-led intermediate care: patients' perceptions.

Intermediate care currently forms one of the UK Government's main initiatives for improving the quality of post-acute care. This paper examines patients' and carers' experiences of a nurse-led unit, which aims to provide intermediate care for people no longer acutely ill. Drawing on findings from qualitative interview data, we demonstrate that patients viewed this model of care as acceptable but that they had markedly inconsistent experiences of care and reported considerable variation in their perceptions of the Unit's purpose.

Referrals for bereavement counselling in primary care: a qualitative study.

The growth in the provision of counselling services in British primary care offers an opportunity for general practitioners (GPs) to refer patients to counsellors following bereavement. This study explores the factors that influence GPs referral decisions. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 50 GPs from two cities in southern UK.