The Effect of Animal-Assisted Activity on Inpatients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of animal-assisted activity on self-esteem, control over activities of daily living, and other psycho-physiological aspects among Taiwanese inpatients with schizophrenia. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. A weekly animal-assisted activity program was arranged for patients in the treatment group for 2 months. A questionnaire assessing self-esteem, self-determination, social support, and psychiatric symptoms was completed the week before and the week after the animal-assisted activity. Compared with the control group, the treatment group showed significant improvement on all measures except for social support and negative psychiatric symptoms. The results of this study showed that animal-assisted activity can promote significant improvements in many clinical aspects among inpatients with schizophrenia. Therefore, animal-assisted activity should be integrated into the treatment of institutionalized patients with schizophrenia.

Research in the use of animals as a treatment for humans

“…Chu et al (2009) demonstrated improvement in self-esteem and self-determination and a decrease in schizophrenic symptoms among 30 schizophrenic patients in an 8-month intervention with a therapy dog compared with treatment without a dog. Correspondingly, Berget et al (2008) found significantly increased self-efficacy, measured with the Generalized SelfEfficacy Scale (Schwarzer, 1993), among a heterogenic population of persons with psychiatric disorders during a 3-month intervention (3 hours, twice a week) with traditional farm animals.…”

A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Psychosocial Outcomes

“…Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions two types of intervention: "animal-assisted therapy" (aat), a goal-directed intervention in which an animal is an integral part of a treatment process to achieve specific goals, and "animal-assisted activities" (aaa), a less structured intervention which aims to achieve positive psychological outcomes through creating a positive environment with animals (Delta Society n.d.). although aaIs have incorporated a wide range of animals (e.g., Breitenbach et al 2009), the most common programs have focused on horses (trotter et al 2008;Burgon 2011), farm animals (e.g., Pedersen et al 2012), or domestic pets (e.g., Chu et al 2009). there is generally agreement that aaIs lead to positive psychological outcomes (e.g., Nimer and lundahl 2007;Wells 2009;Ernst 2012).…”

Construct Validity of Animal-Assisted Therapy and Activities: How Important Is the Animal in AAT?

“…There was a significant decrease in depression and an increase in arterial oxygen in the experimental group but there were similar decreases in anxiety, hostility, and blood pressure in both the experimental and control groups. Chu et al (2009) conducted a randomized pre-post between subjects study with the additional validity check of raters blind to condition. Their subjects were adults with schizophrenia.…”