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Fang H.1, Bolinger E.1, Coppock A.1, Mabutas K.1, Liu H.1, Salem Y.1
1UNTHSC, PT, Fort Worth, United States
Background: Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a topic of growing interest in the field of physical therapy today. Many studies have been done on animal-assisted therapy, with a majority of the research done on its effects on those with psychiatric disorders.
Purpose: The purpose of our study is to perform a systematic review on the effects of AAT on older adults with dementia. We hypothesize that the use of animal-assisted therapy in adjunct to traditional physical therapy treatments can improve patient outcomes by decreasing irritability, decreasing aggressive behaviors, boosting motivation, and increase overall quality of life.
Methods: Qualifying studies used subjects diagnosed with dementia and who were living in a nursing home at the time of the study. A total of 8 studies were included in this review. A total of 322 subjects were included in this review. The search engines used in this study were Pubmed and Scopus. Inclusion criteria included studies written in English, published within the last 20 years, with the key words animal assisted therapy, animal assisted intervention, physical therapy, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, exercise, dementia. All of the included studies needed to have AAT as one of the interventions for patients with dementia, using either live or robotic animals.
Results: Out of 35 articles we found using our keywords, 8 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this literature review. In these 8 studies, the participants benefited from AAT. 7 out of the 8 studies used dogs as the intervention, and 1 study used a robotic dog. Frequency ranged from bimonthly to 3x/week. Duration ranged from 3 weeks to 1 year, with each session lasting between 10 min and 100 minutes each. AAT was used as a single treatment in 7 articles, and as part of a combination treatment in 1 article. The most common outcome measure used was behavioral observation of conversation/talk, physical contact, eye contact, physical activity. Other outcome measures used were Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), Multi-Dimensional Dementia Assessment Scale (MDDAS), Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NDI), Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS), Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), and Global Deterioration Scale - Japanese version (GBSS-J). In these measures, 6 out of 8 studies showed improvement in symptom severity of the subjects and 2 showed no change in symptoms.
Conclusion(s): The most commonly used AAT parameters are dog visits, 1-2x week, for 45-60 minutes, for 12 weeks. AAT when used as a single treatment or as part of a combination treatment seems to be beneficial in reducing symptoms or slowing deterioration in older adults with dementia. Further research is needed to show the effects of animal-assisted therapy as a complement to physical therapy.
Implications: AAT is a promising instrument for increasing motivation and boosting emotional status in patients with dementia, with potential for positive implications for improving outcomes in physical therapy.
Funding acknowledgements: Access to databases and fees associated with submissions and printing provided through University of North Texas Health Science Center.
Topic: Older people
Ethics approval: There was no ethics approval needed as there were no human subjects.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
