The experience of process-based cognitive training in people with Parkinson’s disease: a route to transfer to everyday life

Meta-analyses on cognitive training (CT) for people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) report improvements in global cognition and it is recommended as a treatment for people with PD with mild cognitive impairment. However, few studies have assessed the experience of CT. Therefore, this study explored the experience of process-based CT in people with PD and focused on how participants engaged with and made use of the training in their everyday life. In this study, semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with 18 people with PD who had completed 6–8 weeks of process-based CT. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Three overarching themes were developed that reported on the participants’ (1) dedication towards CT; (2) meaning of seeing change in cognitive performance during CT; and (3) inspiration to transfer the knowledge, strategies and mindset from training into everyday life. Furthermore, a route to transfer was described including emotional and motivational experiences. In conclusion, CT was experienced in an active, reflective manner whereby emotional and cognitive challenges during training are dealt with and are seen as important ingredients to attain transfer to everyday life. Future studies are encouraged to examine the link between such qualitative findings and quantitatively measured outcomes.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03680170..