Reliability and Validity of DIDA-Q in Parkinson's Disease

Dual task ability is defined as the ability to perform two activities simultaneously . It is known that the ability to perform a motor or cognitive secondary activity at the same time during walking (talking to a person next to you while walking or carrying objects while walking) leads to gait and balance problems of different severity depending on the type of secondary task in Parkinson's Disease (PD). When patients with Parkinson's Disease (pwPD) are exposed to dual-task walking, their walking speed and length of stride decrease, and the frequency of freezing phenomena during walking increases. Consequently the risk of falling increase during activities of daily living. Individuals often perform dual tasks while performing activities of daily living because of the nature of the tasks' requirements. Therefore, it has become important to evaluate dual task performance in order to create the right treatment plan in the field of neurological physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Although dual task performance is evaluated with different formulae in the literature, the number of scales evaluating the level of difficulty perceived by the patient during the performance of activities of daily living under dual task is limited. The validity of the existing scales for PD has not been studied. The Dual-task Impact on Daily-living Activities Questionnaire (DIDA-Q) is a patient-reported questionnaire developed to assess the degree of difficulty perceived when performing dual tasks during activities of daily living.

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease according to UK Brain Bank criteria
• Walking at least 10 metres without an assistive device
• To have the cognitive capability to understand and answer the questions asked in the scale

Exclusion criteria

• Having any neurological disease other than idiopathic Parkinson's Disease
• The person has an orthopaedic or cardiopulmonary disease that affects walking
• Severe hearing-visual impairment