Prevention, Supportive Care, Treatment
Conditions
Keywords
behavioral and psychological symptoms, animal assisted therapy, cognition
Brief summary
More than 80% of the residents of the investigator's nursing home are dementia, who are often mentally and emotionally unstable. The staff need to spend time helping to eliminate problems. The investigator assume that non-drug intervention measures can be added, such as the Animal-assisted Therapy (AAT). The hypothesis for ATT is expected to improve the mental and emotional inappropriate manifestations of dementia, reduce interfering behaviors, improve the quality of life, reduce the use of inappropriate mental drugs, and expect residents to delay the degradation of physiological functions.
Detailed description
Nursing homes in the investigator's country accept dementia residents usually. The dementia residents often suffer from mental and emotional problems. Then they used drugs to improve the mental and emotional conditions. There were many studies about non-drug treatments ,such as: gardening, nostalgia, pets, and other interventions were improved for the mental and emotional to dementia residents.Well-trained therapy dogs exhibit the behavior that human patients construe as friendly and welcoming.AAT dogs are also required to possess a calm temperament for accommodating the contact with unfamiliar clients while they serve as a source of comfort. In domestic observational studies, non-pharmaceutical interventions for people with dementia who have activities and the hypothesis for ATT can improve the quality of care for dementia, reduce the use of mentally inappropriate drugs, and delay the degree of degeneration. Recent evidence has shown that nursing institutions with dementia arranged weekly activities with AAT for a period of 6 months. Significant improvement was in social interaction, emotional expression, and behavioral and psychological symptoms.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALAnimal-assisted Therapy
By the professor leader makes social interaction, and helping residents with rehabilitation through the Doctor dogs.
Sponsors
Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Masking description
There are blinding of participants and their family.
Intervention model description
Nursing home residents were dementia and older.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Residents of long-term care homes * No fear or allergy to dogs * Wheelchair accessible persons * Able to communicate in Mandarin and Taiwanese * Agree to sign the subject consent form
Exclusion criteria
* Non-residents of nursing homes * Fear and allergy to dogs * Bedridden and wheelchair users * Do not agree to sign the subject consent form Note: Although many nursing home residents have symptoms of dementia, many have not been diagnosed by a doctor, so dementia and other related diseases cannot be included in the inclusion or
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Short Portable mental state questionnaire (SPMSQ) | The experimental and control groups were subjected to a pre-test after they were recruited. There are 12 times AAT, once a week.The AAT did in experimental group,then both groups, there are three post-tests were taken 8th、12th and 16th weeks. | This scale was adopted in this study to assess the participants' cognitive functions. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) | The experimental and control groups were subjected to a pre-test after they were recruited. There are 12 times AAT, once a week.The AAT did in experimental group,then both groups, there are three post-tests were taken 8th、12th and 16th weeks. | The two scales were adopted in this study to assess the participants' depressive and the participants' emotion state |
| The Barthel Index | The experimental and control groups were subjected to a pre-test after they were recruited. There are 12 times AAT, once a week.The AAT did in experimental group,then both groups, there are three post-tests were taken 8th、12th and 16th weeks. | This index was adopted in this study to assess the participants' physical mobility and function. |
| The Brief Symptom Rating Scale(BSRS-5) | The experimental and control groups were subjected to a pre-test after they were recruited. There are 12 times AAT, once a week.The AAT did in experimental group,then both groups, there are three post-tests were taken 8th、12th and 16th weeks. | The participants' feeling healthy |
Countries
Taiwan
Outcome results
None listed