Exploration of a co-production approach to developing a walking group with people with Huntington's Disease

Jones, Una ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7156-8531, Hamana, Katy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5213-253X, Vougioukalou, Sofia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0788-0373, Jones, Mel and Busse-Morris, Monica ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5331-5909 2019. Exploration of a co-production approach to developing a walking group with people with Huntington's Disease. Med One 4 , e190022. 10.20900/mo.20190022

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (250kB) | Preview

Abstract

Background: People with Huntington’s disease (HD) struggle to maintain regular physical activity despite evidence of the benefits of exercise. This study aimed to evaluate the experiences of people who co-produced a walking group for people with HD. Methods: Three people with HD, a specialist HD advisor (sHDA), two project officers from Let’s Walk Cymru (LWC) and the research team co-produced and participated in a walking group for people with HD. A walking group for people with HD was supported weekly by LWC for eight weeks and fortnightly for a further 12 weeks. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with three people with HD, a sHDA and two project LWC project officers. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Interviews identified six themes across participants: “organisation and planning”; “purpose of the walks”; “benefits”; “barriers”, “the group” and “the future”. People with HD enjoyed participating in the walks and reported increased confidence to be more active outside the home. All participants noted challenges including apathy, diminished planning skills, social stigma and motor problems specific to HD; people with HD perceived a lack of influence in relation to co-planning and co-execution of the walking group. Conclusions: The walking group was perceived as enjoyable, beneficial, and motivational. This is the first study to report co-production of a walking group with people with HD and the findings suggest that further research is needed to adapt models of co-production for people with a long-term complex condition.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Centre for Trials Research (CNTRR) Healthcare Sciences Medicine
ISSN:	2397-9119
Funders:	Wellcome Trust/ISSF
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	31 October 2019
Date of Acceptance:	28 October 2019
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2023 02:08
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/126438

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item