A day care program and evaluation of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) for the elderly with senile dementia

Abstract

We conducted a survey to clarify the evaluation methods of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) for the elderly with senile dementia in an adult day care center. AAT was implemented for a total of six biweekly sessions. The AAT group consisted of seven subjects and the control group numbered 20 subjects. In a comparison between Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) scores at baseline and those measured three months later, the average MMSE score before AAT (baseline) was 11.43 (+/- 9.00), and three months later it was 12.29(+/- 9.69). In the AAT group, the average score on Nishimura's Activities of Daily Living (N-ADL) at baseline was 28.43(+/- 14.00), and after ATT it was 29.57(+/- 14.47). In the AAT group, the average baseline score on behavioral pathology of Alzheimer's disease (Behave-AD) was 11.14(+/- 4.85), and three months after AAT it was 7.29(+/- 7.11) (p < 0.05). In the control group, the average baseline score was 5.45(+/- 3.27) and three months later it was 5.63(+/- 3.59). The evaluation of salivary CgA, as a mental stress index, showed a decreasing tendency in the AAT group. Our findings demonstrate the usefulness of using several methods for evaluation of the changes in patients given AAT.

Animal-assisted therapy for persons with aphasia: A pilot study

“…Following extensive literature review, we found no study to date that investigated the use of AAT for persons with stroke or aphasia. Despite the lack of research in AAT for persons with aphasia, numerous studies have been performed on the effects of AAT on other adult populations, such as residents of nursing homes [9][10][11][12]; patients in acute-care hospitals [13][14][15][16]; patients in intensive care units [17]; and adults with spinal cord injury [18], dementia [19][20], depression [21], psychiatric disorders [21][22][23], and schizophrenia [24][25][26].…”

Use of animal-assisted therapy as a tool in the treatment of human diseases: Review

“…Apesar de as atividades (AAA) e a terapia (AAT) assistida por animais não serem tipos comuns de tratamentos complementares usados em pessoas com condições crônicas foram investigadas e consideradas valiosas em vários contextos, tais como hospitalares, terapêuticos, educacionais e de moradia assistida, particularmente entre crianças e idosos (Caprilli & Messeri, 2006, Kanamori et al, 2001, Trotter et al, 2008. Telhado (2001) relata que podem ser utilizados todos os tipos de animais que possam entrar em contato com os humanos sem oferecer-lhes perigo sendo os mais utilizados o gato, coelho, tartaruga, chinchila, hamster, peixe, furão, pássaro e até mesmo animais exóticos como a iguana.…”

The influence of animals on the development of children

“…AAT has been applied to a wide variety of clinical problems, such as autistic spectrum symptoms (Redefer and Goodman, 1989), medical conditions (Havenar et al, 2001), compromised mental functioning (Kanamori et al, 2001), emotional difficulties (Barker and Dawson, 1998), undesirable behaviours (Nagengast et al, 1997), and physical problems (Nathanson et al, 1997). The use of an animal in therapy may be beneficial because animals seem to have a natural tendency to create a bond with people (Olbrich and Otterstedt, 2003).…”