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Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain

(1) Background: Currently, the scientific evidence on the benefits of assisted therapy with dogs in dementia is not clear. In this study, we want to evaluate such benefits through a randomized controlled clinical trial in multiple centers across the country. (2) Methods: The participants were people...

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Autores principales: Vegue Parra, Eva, Hernández Garre, Jose Manuel, Echevarría Pérez, Paloma
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7914582/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33557254
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041471
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author Vegue Parra, Eva
Hernández Garre, Jose Manuel
Echevarría Pérez, Paloma
author_facet Vegue Parra, Eva
Hernández Garre, Jose Manuel
Echevarría Pérez, Paloma
author_sort Vegue Parra, Eva
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: Currently, the scientific evidence on the benefits of assisted therapy with dogs in dementia is not clear. In this study, we want to evaluate such benefits through a randomized controlled clinical trial in multiple centers across the country. (2) Methods: The participants were people over 65 years old with dementia, residing in senior centers in Spain (n = 334). The experimental group underwent assisted therapy with dogs based on the Comprehensive Cognitive Activation Program in Dementia, for 8 months, with weekly sessions of 45 min. Data were collected at the commencement, middle, and end of the program, to evaluate the aspects using the Mini-Examination Cognitive, the modified Bartell Index, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. (3) Results: The results show significant improvements in the experimental group versus the control group in the affective (T1 = p 0.000; T2 = p 0.000) and behavioral (T1 = p 0.005; T2 = p 0.000) aspects, with the affective aspect displaying greater progress in participants with additional depressive (p = 0.022) or anxiety (p = 0.000) disorders, shorter institutionalization periods (r = −0.222, p = 0.004), and those undergoing complementary psychotherapy (p = 0.033) or alternative therapy (p = 0.011). (4) Conclusions: Dog therapy is effective in improving the affective and behavioral aspects of institutionalized patients with dementia.
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spelling pubmed-79145822021-03-01 Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain Vegue Parra, Eva Hernández Garre, Jose Manuel Echevarría Pérez, Paloma Int J Environ Res Public Health Article (1) Background: Currently, the scientific evidence on the benefits of assisted therapy with dogs in dementia is not clear. In this study, we want to evaluate such benefits through a randomized controlled clinical trial in multiple centers across the country. (2) Methods: The participants were people over 65 years old with dementia, residing in senior centers in Spain (n = 334). The experimental group underwent assisted therapy with dogs based on the Comprehensive Cognitive Activation Program in Dementia, for 8 months, with weekly sessions of 45 min. Data were collected at the commencement, middle, and end of the program, to evaluate the aspects using the Mini-Examination Cognitive, the modified Bartell Index, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. (3) Results: The results show significant improvements in the experimental group versus the control group in the affective (T1 = p 0.000; T2 = p 0.000) and behavioral (T1 = p 0.005; T2 = p 0.000) aspects, with the affective aspect displaying greater progress in participants with additional depressive (p = 0.022) or anxiety (p = 0.000) disorders, shorter institutionalization periods (r = −0.222, p = 0.004), and those undergoing complementary psychotherapy (p = 0.033) or alternative therapy (p = 0.011). (4) Conclusions: Dog therapy is effective in improving the affective and behavioral aspects of institutionalized patients with dementia. MDPI 2021-02-04 2021-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7914582/ /pubmed/33557254 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041471 Text en © 2021 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
Vegue Parra, Eva
Hernández Garre, Jose Manuel
Echevarría Pérez, Paloma
Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
title Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
title_full Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
title_fullStr Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
title_full_unstemmed Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
title_short Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
title_sort benefits of dog-assisted therapy in patients with dementia residing in aged care centers in spain
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7914582/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33557254
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041471
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