Patient benefit of dog-assisted interventions in health care: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundDogs are the most common companion animal, and therefore not surprisingly a popular choice for animal-assisted interventions. Dog-assisted interventions are increasingly used in healthcare. The aim of the review was to conduct a systematic literature review of quantitative studies on dog-assisted interventions in healthcare, with the intention of assessing the effects and cost-effectiveness of the interventions for different categories of patients.MethodsA systematic review of the scientific literature reporting results of studies in healthcare, nursing home or home care settings, was conducted. The inclusion criteria applied for this review were: quantitative studies, inclusion of at least 20 study subjects, existence of a control and performed in healthcare settings including nursing homes and home care. The electronic databases PubMed, AMED, CINAHL and Scopus were searched from their inception date through January 2017, for published articles from peer-reviewed journals with full text in English.ResultsEighteen studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria, and were judged to be of at least moderate quality, were included in the analysis. Three of them showed no effect. Fifteen showed at least one significant positive effect but in most studied outcome measures there was no significant treatment effect. Dog-assisted therapy had the greatest potential in treatment of psychiatric disorders among both young and adult patients. Dog-assisted activities had some positive effects on health, wellbeing, depression and quality of life for patients with severe cognitive disorders. Dog-assisted support had positive effects on stress and mood.ConclusionsThe overall assessment of the included studies indicates minor to moderate effects of dog-assisted therapy in psychiatric conditions, as well as for dog-assisted activities in cognitive disorders and for dog-assisted support in different types of medical interventions. However, the majority of studied outcome measures showed no significant effect.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-017-1844-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effects of dog-assisted intervention on quality of life in nursing home residents with dementia

“…This result is in line with other studies [1]. For example, Olsen, Pedersen [9] found significant effects of DAI on depression and QoL for nursing home participants with severe dementia.…”

“…Commonly, DAI is prescribed for a certain indication by a professional such as an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist or a registered nurse [13]. However, despite growing knowledge within the research field, the evidence base is preliminary and rather weak [1,5], mainly because of small studies with small sample sizes that make it difficult to generalize the findings. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of DAIs on QoL in nursing home residents with moderate to severe dementia.…”

“…Three major directions for DAIs have been identified: therapeutic purposes, activating purposes, or as support for specific procedures [1]. In Sweden, therapy dogs, or rather, therapy dog teams (i.e.…”

Improving social participation of children with autism spectrum disorder: Pilot testing of an early animal‐assisted intervention in Spain

“…trained for social interaction with humans, such as dogs or horses) can participate. This therapy promotes the social interaction of individuals with dementia (Bernabei et al, ), reduces stress and pain in hospitalised patients (Bert et al, ) and is beneficial for the social skills of adults with mental health problems such as schizophrenia (Lundqvist, Carlsson, Sjödahl, Theodorsson, & Levin, ; Maujean, Pepping, & Kendall, ). Two meta‐analyses concluded that AAI improves social functioning and emotional well‐being in elderly people and in groups with a chronic health condition, anxiety or depression (Nimer & Lundahl, ; Virués‐Ortega, Pastor‐Barriuso, Castellote, Población, & de Pedro‐Cuesta, ).…”

Vegetative symptoms and behaviour of the therapy-accompanying dog of a chronically suicidal patient

“…A systematic literature review of Lundqvist et al 1 aimed to assess studies on dog-assisted interventions in healthcare and showed a great potential of dog-assisted therapy in treatment of psychiatric disorders. Psychiatry is one of the main indication fields of animal-assisted therapy 2.…”