ABSTRACT
This study examined the effects of dog-assisted therapy (DAT) on social behaviors, emotional manifestations, and experience during the activity of 3 people with dementia residing in a specialized dementia unit. The study used an A-B-A-B withdrawal single-case experimental design with two 5-session phases, baseline and DAT, replicating the same activities in each phase. The sessions were recorded and 2 independent coders quantified the frequency of social behaviors along with an assessment of the emotional manifestations and experience during the activity. Comparing with baseline sessions, DAT sessions showed an increase in prosocial behaviors (leans, looks, and verbalizations) and a significant impact on emotional manifestations with heightened pleasure. Dog-assisted therapy sessions also led to a better experience, with higher participation, pleasure, and relationship with others, together with lower rejection and displeasure than in the baseline sessions. Dog-assisted therapy seems to be a nonpharmacological therapy with potential to improve quality of life of people with dementia through promoting social behaviors and positive emotional manifestations.
Subject(s)
Dementia/rehabilitation , Emotions/physiology , Quality of Life/psychology , Social Behavior , Aged, 80 and over , Animals , Dementia/psychology , Dogs , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
El Centro de Referencia Estatal de atención a personas con enfermedad de Alzheimer y otras demencias (CREA) cuenta con un programa de terapias no farmacológicas (TNF) al que se van incorporando intervenciones novedosas, adaptándonos a los cambios sociales y tecnológicos. Una de las TNF que más interés ha generado en los últimos años es la Roboterapia, el uso de robots sociales con forma de animal. Numerosos estudios han mostrado que la roboterapia tiene beneficios en las áreas social, afectiva, fisiológica y comportamental, pudiendo repercutir en la calidad de vida de la persona con demencia. A este respecto desde el CREA se han realizado recientemente dos estudios: el primero de ellos para valorar la eficacia de la foca robótica Paro en la reducción de los síntomas psicológicos o conductuales y mejora de la calidad de vida; mientras que el segundo consistió en una comparación de las respuestas generadas por Paro o un cachorro de perro
The National Reference Centre for Alzheimer's and Dementia care (CREA) has a program of non-pharmacological therapies (NPT) to which new interventions are incorporated, adapting to social and technological changes. Robotherapy, the use of social robots in the form of animals, is a NPT that has attracted great interest in recent years. Numerous studies have shown that robotherapy has benefits in the social, affective, physiological and behavioural areas, and can have an impact on the quality of life of the person with dementia. In this regard, two studies have been carried out recently by CREA: the first of them to assess the effectiveness of the Paro robotic seal in reducing psychological or behavioural symptoms and improving quality of life; while the second consisted of a comparison of the responses generated by Paro or a puppy dog
