The Relationship between the Experience of Hypomimia and Social Wellbeing in People with Parkinson's Disease and their Care Partners

Abstract

Background: Though hypomimia, also called facial masking, is experienced by many people with Parkinson's disease (PD), little is known about how the experience of this motor impairment relates to their own and their care partners' (CP) social life and relationship quality.

Objective: To test if the experience of facial masking relates to social wellbeing in people with PD and their CPs.

Method: Forty individuals with PD and their CPs rated PD's difficulty showing facial expression (facial masking), and completed questionnaires about their own social wellbeing and depression.

Results: PD-reported and CP-reported facial masking of PD were positively correlated with experience of social rejection in both partners, though this relationship was diminished when controlling for depression. CPs' rating of their partner's facial masking was negatively associated with enjoyment interacting with their partner. This relationship remained when controlling for CP and PD depression.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the experience of facial masking is negatively associated with social wellbeing particularly for the CPs, and especially so for the quality of CPs interpersonal relationship with their partner with PD.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; caregivers; facial expression; quality of life.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.