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Nursing Home Residents Prefer Visits with Dogs,
without People
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Jan. 9, 2006 A professional study in 2002 found
that "animal-assisted therapy can effectively reduce the loneliness of
residents in long-term care facilities. There have been several studies
since supporting positive results with animals visiting elderly patients. A
new study by the same researcher, however, has a new twist. Nursing home
residents feel much less lonely after spending time alone with a
dog than they did when they visited with a dog and other people.
This new Saint Louis University study shows there
is some truth in the old clichι that describes a dog as mans best
friend.
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"Or at least a less aggravating friend, said study
author William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics in the department
of internal medicine and professor of pharmacological and physiological
sciences at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
The research will be published in the March 2006
issue of Anthrozoos..
It was a strange finding, said Banks, who also is
a staff physician at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Louis. We
had thought that the dog acts as a social lubricant and increases the
interaction between the residents. We expected the group dog visits were
going to work better, but they didnt.
The residents found a little quiet time with the
pooch is a lot nicer than spending time with a dog and other people, he
said.
Thirty-seven nursing home residents who scored high
on a loneliness scale said they wanted to receive weekly, 30-minute
visits from dogs. Half spent time alone with the dog, and the other half
spent time with one to three other nursing home residents and the dog.
While both groups felt less lonely, the group that had one-on-one
quality time with the dog experienced a much more significant decrease
in loneliness after five to six weeks of visits.
The main way pets reduce loneliness in nursing
homes is simply by being with people, not by enhancing socialization
between people for instance, giving nursing home residents something
to talk about or an experience to share, Banks said.
There is no need for a dog to be a social
lubricant or icebreaker in a nursing home. Residents live with each
other, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with each other, play bingo with
each other, Banks says. The study also found that the loneliest
individuals benefited the most from visits with dogs.
It was Banks, too, who did the study in 2002 with
Marian R. Banks, that was published in the Journal of Gerontology:
Medical Sciences
Their study found that even one AAT session of 30
minutes per week was effective in reducing loneliness to a statistically
significant degree.
They did note that AAT worked with those who "wish
to receive such therapy."
"The study also found that a large number of
residents in these facilities have strong life-history of relationships
with pets as an intimate part of their support system and, if given a
choice, would continue that relationship," the doctors added.
The demographics of participants in 2002 were
typical of long-term care residents: women, widowed, and older than 75
years of age. Of the 45 study participants, only two did not have pets
during their childhood. The non-participating residents in the long-term
care facility also had had pets during childhood.
One of the more interesting findings in this study
was the spontaneous recollection of childhood pets by the residents.
Participants would talk to their therapy animals about past events with
their former pets. For example, one resident spoke to the dog and asked
if the dog had gone hunting. She remembered fondly how her pet dog would
catch squirrels and rabbits and bring them to her.
The participants in the study were administered the
Demographic and Pet History Questionnaire and Version 3 of the UCLA
Loneliness Scale. The study tested AAT for graded response; that is,
residents were exposed to AAT either once or three times a week. The
results show that treatment once a week is as effective as three times a
week.
Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School
of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first M.D. degree west
of the Mississippi River. Saint Louis University School of Medicine is a
pioneer in geriatric medicine, organ transplantation, chronic disease
prevention, cardiovascular disease, neurosciences and vaccine research,
among others. The School of Medicine trains physicians and biomedical
scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health services on a
local, national and international level.
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