| Summary: | Objective: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative neurological condition causing severe physical and cognitive impairments. Due to the severity of disability caused by PD, individuals are usually in need of long term care. Care is often provided by partners. This review aimed to discover the impact of PD upon the couple relationship. .Method: The search terms (Parkinson*) AND (Spous* OR Couple* OR Partner* OR Husband* OR Wife* OR Wive* OR Marital* OR Marriag* Or Relationship*) were entered into the PsycINFO, Scopus and PUBMED databases resulting in 12,810 papers. After assessments of suitability and the removal of duplicate papers 27 studies were included in this review. Results: PD was shown to have negative impacts on spouses and the spousal relationship. Particular PD symptoms caused specific negative effects. Negative impacts of PD were found to be mediated by a variety of factors internal and external to the spousal relationship. Discussion: Increased attention is needed into how negative outcomes of PD impact well partners and the partner relationship, in addition to factors which can mediate this. Clinical implications include areas for increased professional awareness and for targeted interventions. The findings also highlight possible further areas of research including; considering the effect of specific PD symptoms on the couple relationship and possible protective factors that minimise the effect of PD on well partners and couple dyads.
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