Objective: To provide people with Parkinson’s opportunities to be involved in the creation and delivery of education related to their condition, and to empower community through the delivery of a tailored co-designed education program.

Background: Fight Parkinson’s is a leading not-for-profit organisation in Victoria, Australia that provides tailored education to the Parkinson’s community through online and in person programs.

Positive Life covers topics of daily relevance for the Parkinson’s community through Microsoft Teams. This monthly hour-long webinar is co-designed with consumers and features community members as panellists.

Method: A rolling expression of interest for Positive Life panellists was promoted through Fight Parkinson’s social media platforms and website. This led to engagement of eight community members to form a dynamic community panel across 2025.

The panel met quarterly to discuss the 2025 Positive Life program design and delivery. Meetings provided panel members opportunity to share ideas, provide feedback and actively engage in program design.

Every Positive Life session was collaboratively designed by community and Fight Parkinson’s multidisciplinary team (MDT). Community panellists were given opportunity to provide suggestions and feedback for each session which was used by presenters to co-design presentation content and collateral material. Sessions were then delivered by MDT member(s) alongside 1-2 community panellists.

Following completion of the 2025 program, surveys were used to evaluate both participant and panellist experience.

Results: Twelve Positive Life sessions were delivered in 2025 to 433 participants.

The participant evaluation survey received 49 responses with 39 respondents (79.6%) finding the program relevant to their daily life, nine neutral responses (18.4%), and only one respondent (2%) not finding the program relevant.

Five panellists completed the 2025 Positive Life evaluation survey. All respondents believed people with Parkinson’s should be involved with education design and delivery. Additionally, all respondents valued their experience as panellists, felt well supported and that their contributions shaped program design and delivery.

Conclusion: The co-designed program was found valuable by community panellists and participants, and provided a means to empower community with ownership of a program designed by and for them.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/partnering-with-community-through-co-designed-education-for-people-living-with-parkinsons/