Impact of the Graphic Memoir "

Understanding the lived experience of illness is important for empowering patients and informing health care practitioners. This study investigated the impact of a book-length comic memoir, In this convergent mixed methods study, patients with PD were recruited from a multidisciplinary movement disorders clinic in 2019-2020 and were eligible if cognitively intact; English-speaking; had stage I, II, or III PD; and < 12 months had elapsed since diagnosis. Participants received Thirty participants completed the study (13 males and 17 female; mean age = 59 years). Four qualitative themes emerged: Reading Participants who liked the book-the "endorsers"-revealed that it deeply resonated with them and helped them realize they were not alone with the disease. Many commented that Dunlap-Shohl's story was in some ways their story-and that this was both practically and emotionally reassuring.