Dog‐assisted interventions and outcomes for older adults in residential long‐term care facilities: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Jain, Briony; Syed, Shabeer; Hafford‐Letchfield, Trish; O'Farrell-Pearce, Sioban

doi:10.1111/opn.12320

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…This study comes from a relativist paradigm using interpretation of combined data from direct observation and participant feedback to address a gap in the literature (Jain et al, 2020). It revealed a number of immediate and short-term impacts of the DAI on care home resident's overall wellbeing.…”

Section: Summary Of Key Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Innovations that foster person Dog-assisted intervention (DAI) is one of the most common forms of AAI and is the focus of this study. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis identified over 40 research studies examining the impact of DAI on older people living in care homes (Jain et al, 2020). This review showed that existing research focuses almost exclusively on quantitatively evaluated impacts, often using a single outcome to measure changes over time or between groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a low cost intervention, adoption of DAI in care home settings appeared to strengthen relationships between residents and staff and enable wider relationships with an external community resource. K E Y W O R D S care homes, dog assisted intervention, older people, participant observation | 1451 JAIN et Al.and community-centred ways of working, support social and emotional wellbeing of older people living in care homes and promote inclusive use of community resources and external partnerships, are highly desirable (Charles & Carstensen, 2010;Waite, 2018).Studies of Animal-assisted intervention (AAI) in care settings have reported a wide range of benefits on wellbeing (Bernabei et al, 2013;Jain et al, 2020) such as improving psychosocial and physiological functioning (Allen et al, 2002), and reduction in levels of stress, depression and compassion fatigue among carers (Coleman, 2016). Yet, few studies on AAI to date have attempted to understand the experience and meaning of the animal-human interaction for older residents living in care homes (Pitheckoff et al, 2018), particularly for people with dementia (Peluso et al, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Studies of Animal-assisted intervention (AAI) in care settings have reported a wide range of benefits on wellbeing (Bernabei et al, 2013;Jain et al, 2020) such as improving psychosocial and physiological functioning (Allen et al, 2002), and reduction in levels of stress, depression and compassion fatigue among carers (Coleman, 2016). Yet, few studies on AAI to date have attempted to understand the experience and meaning of the animal-human interaction for older residents living in care homes (Pitheckoff et al, 2018), particularly for people with dementia (Peluso et al, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Dog‐assisted interventions in care homes: A qualitative exploration of the nature, meaning and impact of interactions for older people

Jain

Hafford‐Letchfield

Ellmers

et al. 2020

Health Soc Care Community

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Dog-assisted interventions (DAI) have been shown to have a wide-range of potential benefits for older adults living in care homes. Yet, there is a lack of published qualitative research which explores the experiences of care home residents, staff and dog-owner volunteers involved in DAI to fully understand its meaning, impact and value. This study aimed to explore the impact of a DAI on the social and emotional wellbeing of older residents living in care homes. The research employed a qualitative study design comprising overt, naturalistic researcher observation of weekly DAI sessions with 54 older adult residents across four participating care homes in the South East region of England over 3 months in 2018. Data were also collected through focus groups with 12 care home staff and 7 dog-owner volunteers. The data from the observations and focus groups was individually coded followed by thematic analysis across the three data sources. Findings demonstrated there were clear benefits for older people who engaged with DAI, as well as for dog-owners and to some extent for care home staff members. Benefits included sensory, emotional stimulation and opportunities for social interaction, reminiscence on early life experiences and these were supported by the development of some new social relationships. While there were some environmental challenges to implementing DAI, the findings confirm its value for care home residents, with minimal drawbacks from an organizational standpoint. As a low cost intervention, adoption of DAI in care home settings appeared to strengthen relationships between residents and staff and enable wider relationships with an external community resource. K E Y W O R D S care homes, dog assisted intervention, older people, participant observation | 1451 JAIN et Al.and community-centred ways of working, support social and emotional wellbeing of older people living in care homes and promote inclusive use of community resources and external partnerships, are highly desirable (Charles & Carstensen, 2010;Waite, 2018).Studies of Animal-assisted intervention (AAI) in care settings have reported a wide range of benefits on wellbeing (Bernabei et al., 2013;Jain et al., 2020) such as improving psychosocial and physiological functioning (Allen et al., 2002), and reduction in levels of stress, depression and compassion fatigue among carers (Coleman, 2016). Yet, few studies on AAI to date have attempted to understand the experience and meaning of the animal-human interaction for older residents living in care homes (Pitheckoff et al., 2018), particularly for people with dementia (Peluso et al., 2018). Two-thirds of older residents in care homes have some form of dementia (Prince et al., 2014).

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Section: Summary Of Key Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dog‐assisted interventions in care homes: A qualitative exploration of the nature, meaning and impact of interactions for older people

Jain

Hafford‐Letchfield

Ellmers

et al. 2020

Health Soc Care Community

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“…Studies of how visits from dogs affect nursing home residents have mainly focussed on long-term benefits measured by psychometric scales evaluating symptoms of depression, loneliness, quality of life, impairment level and agitated behaviour in nursing home residents or persons with dementia. Recently, review papers have outnumbered papers reporting experimental studies, and authors generally agree that the evidence base for specific effects of dog visits in nursing homes is weak and inconclusive [ 5 – 10 ]. Several reviews point out that the use of very different study settings makes it difficult to reach definite conclusions about specific effects of dog visits [ 6 – 8 , 11 – 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dog visits in nursing homes – increase complexity or keep it simple? A randomised controlled study

et al. 2021

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Objective To compare the immediate response of nursing home residents to dog visits with or without an activity, and the impact of cognitive ability. Methods In a randomly controlled trial, 174 nursing home residents were allocated to 12 bi-weekly 10-minute visits: either ordinary dog visits (D, n = 57, 49 analysed), dog visits with an activity (DA, n = 56, 48 analysed), or visits with activity but no dog (A, n = 61, 54 analysed). We recorded frequency and duration of residents’ verbal and physical interactions with the dog and persons. Data were analysed in three periods of four visits (period 1–3) as binomial variables (generalised linear models) or durations (non-parametric statistics). Results Both visit type and impairment level affected the likelihood of interacting with the dog (D and DA). In some periods increased cognitive impairment lowered odds of touching the dog in DA visits (period 1: F1,85 = 5.17, P < 0.05) and talking to it directly (period 1: F1,90 = 4.60, P < 0.05; period 3: F1,87 = 5.34, P < 0.05). Throughout, residents talked less to persons during DA visits compared to D and A (P = 0.01–0.05), and level of cognitive impairment correlated negatively with talk duration (P < 0.001). Generally, high cognitive impairment level lowered odds of interacting with (period 1: F1,89 = 7.89, P < 0.01; period 2: F1,97 = 6.76, P = 0.01; period 3: F1,92 = 13.57, P < 0.001) and talking about the activities (period 1: F1,89 = 13.78, P <0.001; period 2: F1,88 = 3.27, P = 0.07; period 3: F1,86 = 3.88, P = 0.05). Conclusion Visits without specific activities stimulated residents to interact with the dog, whereas increasing the complexity of dog visits by adding activities resulted in less interaction with the dog for severely impaired residents. The optimal dog visit for the less cognitively impaired residents could include activities and thereby a possibility to interact with the dog in different ways, whereas for severely impaired residents, just being with the dog seems more appropriate.

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Interventions Associated With Reduced Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older Adults

et al. 2022

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ImportanceLoneliness and social isolation are public health concerns faced by older adults due to physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that develop with aging. Loneliness and social isolation are associated with increased morbidity and mortality.ObjectiveTo evaluate interventions, targeting older adults, associated with a reduction in loneliness and social isolation.Data SourcesOVID, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Embase, PsychINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from inception to March 2020.Study SelectionPeer-reviewed randomized clinical trials measuring loneliness and social isolation or support in adults aged 65 years or older. Only English language articles were included.Data Extraction and SynthesisTwo independent reviewers screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. Random-effects models were performed to pool the overall effect size by intervention. Statistical heterogeneity was evaluated with the I2 statistic and by estimating prediction intervals. Data were analyzed from November 2021 to September 2022.Main Outcomes and MeasuresQuantitative measures of loneliness, social isolation, or social support based on an effect size of standardized mean differences.ResultsSeventy studies were included in the systematic review (8259 participants); 44 studies were included in the loneliness meta-analysis (33 in the community with 3535 participants; 11 in long-term care with 1057 participants), with participants’ ages ranging from 55 to 100 years. Study sizes ranged from 8 to 741 participants. Interventions included animal therapy, psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, multicomponent, counseling, exercise, music therapy, occupational therapy, reminiscence therapy, social interventions, and technological interventions. Most interventions had a small effect size. Animal therapy in long-term care, when accounting for studies with no active controls, had the largest effect size on loneliness reduction (−1.86; 95% CI, −3.14 to −0.59; I2 = 86%) followed by technological interventions (videoconferencing) in long-term care (−1.40; 95% CI, −2.37 to −0.44; I2 = 70%).Conclusions and RelevanceIn this study, animal therapy and technology in long-term care had large effect sizes, but also high heterogeneity, so the effect size’s magnitude should be interpreted with caution. The small number of studies per intervention limits conclusions on sources of heterogeneity. Overall quality of evidence was very low. Future studies should consider measures of social isolation in long-term care and identify the contextual components that are associated with a reduction in loneliness.

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Dog‐assisted interventions and outcomes for older adults in residential long‐term care facilities: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Cited by 18 publications

References 89 publications

Dog‐assisted interventions in care homes: A qualitative exploration of the nature, meaning and impact of interactions for older people

Dog‐assisted interventions in care homes: A qualitative exploration of the nature, meaning and impact of interactions for older people

Dog visits in nursing homes – increase complexity or keep it simple? A randomised controlled study

Interventions Associated With Reduced Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older Adults

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