Developing training for Parkinson's and impulse control disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing a training tool to reduce impulsivity in people with Parkinson's who have additional Impulse Control Disorders
IRAS ID
219356
Contact name
Ellen Poliakoff
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Impulse control disorders (ICDs) develop in up to 50% of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and is linked to taking dopamine agonist medication. ICDs can include behaviours such as problem gambling, excessive shopping, and hypersexuality. Currently, the best available solution for ICDs is to withdraw the problematic medications.
Impulsivity can affect people in different ways. The relationship between different types of impulsivity, and how they are affected in people experiencing different PD symptoms, is not clear.
The aims of this project are twofold. Firstly, we want to find out which types of impulsivity are affected in people with PD who have ICDs, as well as people with PD who do not have ICDs. We will compare people with mild to moderate Parkinson’s who have ICDs, mild to moderate Parkinson’s without ICDs, and healthy people of a similar age on tasks that measure different types of impulsivity. This will take place over one or two sessions at the University of Manchester. Each session will last no more than 3 hours with sufficient breaks and will include a range of pen and paper and computer-based tasks, with simple methods of responding (keyboard, verbal, eye movements, written etc).
Secondly, practising stopping an in-progress action can generalise to a reduction in impulsive behaviours such as gambling. For example, practising tapping a button after seeing the word “Go” but stopping yourself as quickly as possible if the word “Stop” appears afterwards can cause less risky decision making. Therefore, we aim to develop a proof of concept behavioural training tool where people with Parkinson’s and ICDs can practice “stopping” an action. This training can take place in the participants’ own home over several weeks using a tablet or laptop so we can see how this affects impulsive behaviours.
We aim to complete the project before 2020.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0094
Date of REC Opinion
16 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion