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Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment

Disorders of communication, social relationships, and psychomotricity are often characterized by cognitive impairment, which hinders daily activities and increases the risk of falls. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an animal-assisted therapy (AAT) program in an institutionalized geriatr...

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Autores principales: Rodrigo-Claverol, Maylos, Malla-Clua, Belén, Marquilles-Bonet, Carme, Sol, Joaquim, Jové-Naval, Júlia, Sole-Pujol, Meritxell, Ortega-Bravo, Marta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7459682/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32823839
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165899
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author Rodrigo-Claverol, Maylos
Malla-Clua, Belén
Marquilles-Bonet, Carme
Sol, Joaquim
Jové-Naval, Júlia
Sole-Pujol, Meritxell
Ortega-Bravo, Marta
author_facet Rodrigo-Claverol, Maylos
Malla-Clua, Belén
Marquilles-Bonet, Carme
Sol, Joaquim
Jové-Naval, Júlia
Sole-Pujol, Meritxell
Ortega-Bravo, Marta
author_sort Rodrigo-Claverol, Maylos
collection PubMed
description Disorders of communication, social relationships, and psychomotricity are often characterized by cognitive impairment, which hinders daily activities and increases the risk of falls. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an animal-assisted therapy (AAT) program in an institutionalized geriatric population with cognitive impairment. The variables evaluated included level of communication and changes in gait and/or balance. We performed a two-arm, parallel controlled, open-label, nonrandomized cluster clinical trial in two nursing home centers from an urban area. Patients in the two centers received 12 weekly sessions of physiotherapy, but the experimental group included AAT with a therapy dog. The study included a total of 46 patients (23 Control Group [CG], 23 Experimental Group [EG]) with a median age of 85.0 years. Of these, 32.6% had mild–moderate cognitive decline (Global Deterioration Scale of Reisberg [GDS] 2–4) and 67.4% severe cognitive decline (GDS 5–6). After the intervention, patients in the CG and EG showed a statistically significant improvement in all the response variables. When comparing both groups, no statistically significant differences were found in any of the Tinetti scale results (measuring gait and balance). However, the communication of patients in the EG, measured on the Holden scale, showed a statistically significant greater improvement postintervention than that of patients in the CG. AAT can be useful as a complementary, effective treatment for patients with different degrees of cognitive decline.
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spelling pubmed-74596822020-09-02 Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment Rodrigo-Claverol, Maylos Malla-Clua, Belén Marquilles-Bonet, Carme Sol, Joaquim Jové-Naval, Júlia Sole-Pujol, Meritxell Ortega-Bravo, Marta Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Disorders of communication, social relationships, and psychomotricity are often characterized by cognitive impairment, which hinders daily activities and increases the risk of falls. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an animal-assisted therapy (AAT) program in an institutionalized geriatric population with cognitive impairment. The variables evaluated included level of communication and changes in gait and/or balance. We performed a two-arm, parallel controlled, open-label, nonrandomized cluster clinical trial in two nursing home centers from an urban area. Patients in the two centers received 12 weekly sessions of physiotherapy, but the experimental group included AAT with a therapy dog. The study included a total of 46 patients (23 Control Group [CG], 23 Experimental Group [EG]) with a median age of 85.0 years. Of these, 32.6% had mild–moderate cognitive decline (Global Deterioration Scale of Reisberg [GDS] 2–4) and 67.4% severe cognitive decline (GDS 5–6). After the intervention, patients in the CG and EG showed a statistically significant improvement in all the response variables. When comparing both groups, no statistically significant differences were found in any of the Tinetti scale results (measuring gait and balance). However, the communication of patients in the EG, measured on the Holden scale, showed a statistically significant greater improvement postintervention than that of patients in the CG. AAT can be useful as a complementary, effective treatment for patients with different degrees of cognitive decline. MDPI 2020-08-14 2020-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7459682/ /pubmed/32823839 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165899 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Rodrigo-Claverol, Maylos
Malla-Clua, Belén
Marquilles-Bonet, Carme
Sol, Joaquim
Jové-Naval, Júlia
Sole-Pujol, Meritxell
Ortega-Bravo, Marta
Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment
title Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment
title_full Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment
title_fullStr Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment
title_full_unstemmed Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment
title_short Animal-Assisted Therapy Improves Communication and Mobility among Institutionalized People with Cognitive Impairment
title_sort animal-assisted therapy improves communication and mobility among institutionalized people with cognitive impairment
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7459682/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32823839
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165899
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