Chapter 6 174 in the design process and stay attuned to the power dynamics and agency of varying stakeholders during co-design sessions. Using an ECD approach can support the development of care interventions that increase gender equity in PD care. When men, women and gender diverse people with PD are encouraged to use the power of their own lived experiences to identify and discuss gender-related experiences and ideate priorities for gender-sensitive PD care, community members are purposefully involved as co-designers with the goal of formulating and innovating solutions relevant to their needs. This intentional engagement of patient communities is especially important when it comes to improving the knowledge base around PD, which is still based largely on the experiences of a relatively homogeneous population from European Caucasian descent.29,52 To foster genuinely inclusive design research processes, using reflective tools and frameworks, such as ECD, can ensure that a participatory process is not just tokenistic but genuinely meaningful. It should be noted that the sample in this study is not necessarily representative of the broader Parkinson’s population in the Netherlands. Participants had generally received higher education, experienced mild to moderate disease disability and were not as ethnically diverse as the general Dutch population. Homogeneous sampling is employed when the objective is an in-depth exploration of the experiences of a particular group by minimising group differences; this approach could therefore be viewed as a strength for this study. Nonetheless, there are increasing demands to emphasise greater diversity and inclusion in Parkinson’s research overall.29 It remains to be investigated whether the same pattern of results appears when studies are conducted that include individuals with more advanced stages of disease progression and with distinct social identities that might adhere to- and practice different gender norms and stereotypes.6 The promotion of an intersectional gender approach that emphasises the intersectionality of gender with other contextual aspects of identity, such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and age, is needed to better understand and address the unique healthcare challenges faced by men and women with PD from different social backgrounds. Furthermore, investigations could be even more robust if researchers considered the added layer of complexity brought by disease-specific symptoms that intensify during the disease journey. For example, researchers could consider how contextual gender norms related to caregiving can become more or less salient with disease progression and shape the quality of life of both men and women with PD and their caregivers.53 Or when one considers that depression, common in Parkinson’s disease, combined with its potential gendered manifestations can play an important role in help-seeking behaviours and may hold particular significance for people with PD that
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