Animal-assisted intervention and agitation in patients with dementia: evaluation in a special care unit by the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory.

BACKGROUND: Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) show promising results, but they suffer from a lack of studies and contradictory results. OBJECTIVE: Our study deals with dog intervention and agitation in older patients with dementia. METHODS: An epidemiological quasi-experimental study was carried out in patients living in a special care unit (SCU) in an Ehpad in the French Haut-Rhin region. Agitation was assessed using the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory at three consecutive periods one month after the introduction, discontinuation and resumption of a dog mediation. RESULTS: 26 patients were included in the study (76.92% female); mean age was 85.35 years and the mean score on MMSE was 6.85. Stopping AAI leads to an 11.9% relative increase in agitation (P = 0.03) whereas reintroduction of AAI leads to a 29.9% relative decrease in agitation (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: AAI presents an interesting and efficient therapy for agitation in older patients with dementia. However, further studies are needed to standardise their implementation (rhythm, duration and type of interaction) in order to ensure an optimal care.

[Animal-assisted intervention and agitation in patients with dementia: evaluation in a special care unit by the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory]. / Intérêt de la médiation animale sur l'agitation dans la maladie d'Alzheimer et les maladies apparentées : évaluation en unité de vie protégée à l'aide de l'échelle de Cohen-Mansfield.

BACKGROUND: Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) show promising results but they suffer from a lack studies and contradictory results. OBJECTIVE: Our study deals with dog intervention and agitation in older patients with dementia. METHODS: An epidemiological quasi-experimental study was carried out in patients living in a Special Care Unit (SCU) of an Ehpad in the French Region of Haut-Rhin. Agitation was assessed by the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory at three consecutive periods of one month after the instauration, discontinuation and resumption of a dog mediation. RESULTS: 26 patients were included in the study (76,92% female); mean age was 85,35 years and the mean score on MMSE was 6,85. Stopping AAI leads to a 11,9% relative increase in agitation (p = 0,03) whereas reintroduction of AAI leads to a 29,9% relative decrease in agitation (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Animal-assisted interventions present an interesting and efficient therapy for agitation in older patients with dementia. However, further studies need to standardize their practices (rhythm, duration and type of interaction) to ensure an optimal care.