What motivates arrangements of dog visits in nursing homes? Experiences by dog handlers and nurses

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

“…The four qualitative studies (Coleman, 2016a; Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018; McCullough, 2014; Swall, Ebbeskog, Lundh Hagelin, & Fagerberg, 2015) explored attitudes or feelings towards the presence of animals among older people and their carers. Despite their different contexts and target population, our thematic synthesis revealed three common key themes across the studies (Figure 4).…”

“…There were references to dogs providing a stimulus for conversation or ‘talking stick’ (p.72) (McCullough, 2014) which triggered life review (Coleman, 2016a), storytelling (McCullough, 2014), offered an opportunity for resident's to express affection (McCullough, 2014) and facilitated revelation of residents personalities. These opportunities provided carers with unknown glimpses into the older person's personal life experiences (Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018) and enhanced reciprocity. As a result, cross‐communication was facilitated between individuals that did not usually come together (the resident, dog, handler/volunteer, caregiver, family member), in a joyful manner (McCullough, 2014).…”

“…The potential offered through these developments to enhance and focus communication with the older people and towards a more person‐centred approach to their care were posited as significant benefits and a means of addressing or rebalancing well‐documented unequal power relations in institutions. Reminiscence was frequently reported as an outcome of DAI (Coleman, 2016a; Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018; McCullough, 2014; Swall et al., 2015), and the presence of a dog was reported to act as memory triggers and evoked feelings from ‘time and places retold’. These memories could also be triggers for other memories that open up and are reflected upon in a coherent way (Swall et al., 2015).…”

“…While many of the impacts of DAI described constituted ‘naive’ descriptions (p.21) (Swall et al., 2015), impacts such as reducing stress, spiritual connection, being in the moment and ‘create a good moment’ for those with affected cognitive function (Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018) were all cited as observed or perceived benefits for those who were not able to sustain other relationships. Sensatory comfort was described as significant in the absence of carers being able to meet some of the older person's unspoken needs such as personal loss and the need for physical comforting, particularly at the end of life (Coleman, 2016a).…”

“…Two of the studies specifically addressed caregiver insights into the value of DAI (Coleman, 2016a; Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018; Swall et al., 2015) and the impact on their own roles and well‐being. The need for psychosocial stimulation was specifically noted as a challenge to focus on in their otherwise busy day and the rewards where some were able to observe benefits such as calmer moods and behaviour (Coleman, 2016a; Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018; Swall et al., 2015). Two studies focused on the role of the dog handler (Gundersen & Johannessen, 2018; McCullough, 2014).…”