Objective: The primary aim of this study is to investigate the bidirectional relationship between perceived creative engagement and quality of care in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Despite growing interest in person- and patient-centered care models for people with PD, the psychological factors shaping patients’ engagement with care remain underexplored. One of such factors may be creative engagement, though its link to care quality has received little empirical attention.

Method: An exploratory, longitudinal, observational design was used with two measurement waves (year 1 and year 2). Data were collected from a sample of 566 participants with PD using self-reported questionnaires. Quality of care was assessed using: the 5As framework, a measure of patient-centered care management, and a composite score of experienced person-centered care with the neurologist and PD nurse. Perceived creativity engagement was assessed with a single self-report item. Four linear mixed models were estimated to examine the bidirectional relationship between perceived creative engagement and both quality of care outcomes, controlling for time.

Results: In the full sample, perceived creative engagement significantly predicted both quality of care measures (5As: F(1) = 10.015, p = .002; neurologist-nurse: F(1) = 21.465, p < .001). The reverse direction was equally significant (5As → creativity: F(1) = 7.443, p = .006; neurologist-nurse → creativity: F(1) = 21.113, p < .001). No significant effects of time or creativity-by-time interactions were observed.

Conclusion: These results indicate that creative engagement may be a potentially important behavioral marker of how patients engage with and experience care. It is noteworthy that these significant associations were observed in both directions, suggesting the possibility of a mutually reinforcing dynamic. However, given the non-experimental and exploratory nature of the present study, and the fact that this is one of the first empirical investigations of this relationship in a PD population, caution is warranted, and future hypothesis-driven studies are needed. Nonetheless, these findings raise questions worth pursuing into the role of creative engagement, with potential implications for both clinical practice and design interventions.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/creative-engagement-as-a-unique-lens-on-quality-of-care-in-parkinsons-disease/