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Pet therapy in elderly patients with mental illness
Author(s) -
MORETTI Francesca,
DE RONCHI Diana,
BERNABEI Virginia,
MARCHETTI Lucia,
FERRARI Barbara,
FORLANI Claudia,
NEGRETTI Francesca,
SACCHETTI Cleta,
ATTI Anna Rita
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
psychogeriatrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1479-8301
pISSN - 1346-3500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8301.2010.00329.x
Subject(s) - geriatric depression scale , medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , mood , depression (economics) , dementia , mini–mental state examination , physical therapy , cognition , psychiatry , cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms , nursing , disease , economics , macroeconomics
Background: To evaluate the effects of pet therapy on cognitive function, mood and perceived quality of life on elderly inpatients (mean age 84.7 years; 95.2% women) affected by dementia, depression and psychosis. Methods: Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) and 15‐items Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were administered to 10 patients (pet group) and 11 controls (control group) together with a self‐perceived quality‐of‐life questionnaire, before and after a pet therapy intervention that lasted 6 weeks. MMSE and GDS mean scores were compared between and within groups by Student's t ‐test. Results: Both the pet group and control group improved on GDS and MMSE. Within the pet group, GDS symptoms decreased by 50% (from 5.9 to 2.7, P = 0.013), whereas mean MMSE score increased by 4.5 ( P = 0.060). The between group comparison showed a positive effect of pet therapy intervention on GDS ( P = 0.070). Most of the participants reported an improvement of their perceived quality of life. Conclusions: Pet therapy is efficient in improving depressive symptoms and cognitive function in residents of long‐term care facilities with mental illness.