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Evaluation of the efficacy of animal‐assisted therapy based on the reality orientation therapy protocol in Alzheimer's disease patients: a pilot study
Author(s) -
Menna Lucia Francesca,
Santaniello Antonio,
Gerardi Federica,
Di Maggio Annamaria,
Milan Graziella
Publication year - 2016
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/psyg.12145
Subject(s) - geriatric depression scale , medicine , bonferroni correction , analysis of variance , depression (economics) , post hoc analysis , disease , physical therapy , cognition , psychiatry , depressive symptoms , statistics , mathematics , economics , macroeconomics
Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of animal‐assisted therapy ( AAT ) in elderly patients affected by Alzheimer's disease based on the formal reality orientation therapy ( ROT ) protocol. Methods Our study was carried out at an Alzheimer's centre for 6 months. A homogeneous sample (age, Mini‐Mental State Examination ( MMSE ), 15‐item Geriatric Depression Scale ( GDS )) of 50 patients was selected at random and successively. Patients were divided into three groups: (i) 20 patients received a course of AAT ( AAT group) based on the ROT protocol; (ii) 20 patients were engaged exclusively in activities based on the ROT group; and (iii) 10 patients (control group) participated in no stimulations. MMSE and GDS were administered at time 0 (T 0 ) and time 1 (T 1 ) to all three groups. Differences within groups between T 0 and T 1 for GDS and MMSE scores were analyzed by Student's t ‐test. Differences between group means were analyzed using an anova test with the Bonferroni‐Dunn test for post‐hoc comparisons. Results Both the AAT group and ROT group had improved GDS scores and showed a slight improvement in terms of mood. On the GDS , the AAT group improved from 11.5 (T 0 ) to 9.5 (T 1 ), and the ROT group improved from 11.6 (T 0 ) to 10.5 (T 1 ). At the same time, a slight improvement in cognitive function, as measured by the MMSE , was observed. In the AAT group, mean MMSE was 20.2 at T 0 and 21.5 at T 1 , and in the ROT group, it was 19.9 at T 0 and 20.0 at T 1 . In the control group, the average values of both the GDS and MMSE remained unchanged. The Bonferroni‐Dunn results showed statistically significant differences between groups, particularly between the AAT group and the other two ( P < 0.001). Conclusions Pet therapy interventions based on the formal ROT protocol were effective and, compared to the ROT , provided encouraging and statistically significant results.