The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Anxiety and Depression among Nursing Home Patients - Research Paper Example

The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Anxiety and Depression among Nursing Home Patients Abstract Animal Assisted Therapy is now used widely as it has healing power to treat psychological, ill health, behavioral and cognitive factors. Previous research evidenced this Animal Assisted Therapy is successful to treat depression, mental disorders, anxiety and other mood disorders. Both children and adults are benefitted by this therapy and therefore patients at nursing homes, hospitals and mental institutions are treated using AAT or Pet Therapy. This research showed successful positive results as to find out Effects of Animal Assisted Therapy on Anxiety and Depression among Nursing Home Patients. Thus, the study concluded that more doctors and practitioners should apply this therapeutic treatment and more research should be done to get more benefit from AAT. Introduction The relation between animals and humans has always been a powerful bond. For many years, this bond has remained a source of relief and solace for many people who are suffering or have suffered from emotional or physical pain. This relationship regarding healing power is practiced today and is known as Animal Assisted Therapy or pet therapy (Le Roux and Kemp, 2009). Animal-assisted therapy Animal Assisted Therapy or AAT is a form of therapy in which animals are involved for treatment. AAT helps in improving patient’s emotional, social or cognitive functioning. The animals which assist in the therapeutic treatment include farm animals, domesticated pets and marine mammals. Animal-Assisted Therapy is used to help children and adults in cases where they have experienced neglect, abuse, depression, anxiety, undergoing chemotherapy or through other medical treatments etc. Today, Animal Assisted Therapy is gaining much importance and it is noted that it will grow in mainstream healthcare practices. Dogs are mostly used for this therapy as they are classified as facilitators to recovery, preventers of sickness and as the predictors of bad health. Moreover, dogs also have excellent sociability and training skills. AAT therapy is now recognized by almost all medical and health care professionals. The therapy is basically meant to treat depression, mental disorders, anger, stress, anxiety, loneliness, other mood disorders and psychological health of individuals (Stasi, Amati and Costa, 2004). Anxiety and stress are regarded as a major cause to diseases of cardiovascular areas. It has been hypothesized by researchers that comrade animals may provide to lesser anxiety and stress levels (Siegel, 1990). Numerous instigators have reported lesser readings for blood pressure among children and adults in the presence of such a companion animal during worrying activities .Animals have been associated with positive effects on patients in a variety of health care settings (Friedman et al, 1983). The initial introduction of animals to such settings involved frequent visits for the treatment programs. However, now animals are intentionally involved in treatments via numerous interventions included in the animal assisted therapy. Over the past few decades, Animal assisted therapy or Pet Therapy has gained extensive application and support in almost all parts of the world. In this therapy, the animals are provided with special trainings before their interaction with patients. AAT has been shown to have positive mental, physical, motivational and educational effects on participants (Johnson and Haubner, 2008). That is the reason why this therapy is largely used for rehabilitation and recovery of mood disorders. The studies by Muschel, Gagnon et al., Wells, Schnipper and Weber (1984, 2004, 1998, 2005 and 2004) investigated effect of Animal Assisted Therapy on cancer patient. All these study concluded that cancer patients were benefitted from this therapy. A research by Stasi et al. (2004) concluded that AAT therapy or pet therapy helps in lowering blood pressure and can improve depressive symptoms. According to recent statistics), companionship of dogs helps in decreasing stress and also has positive influence on mental and physical health. A fact reveals that in U.S, 62% households have a companion animal which proves that animals can be best kept for treatment of psychological treatment and other ill health ailments. Animals not only assist in therapeutic treatments but also they are best companion for humans. Many studies reveal that passive or active communications with animals in therapeutic treatment of Animal Assisted Therapy are greatly beneficial for physical i.e., cardiac, lessening of hypertension, circulatory troubles, pain relief, muscle relaxation) and psychosocial (fear, reduction of loneliness, reduction in negative or violent behavior, improvement in self confidence and hostility etc) factors in patients. For this type of therapeutic treatment, all animal are not suitable, therefore guidelines regarding to the animal breed, species, age, origin, state of health and behavior must be compiled (Le Roux and Kemp, 2009). Furthermore, it is also important to consider proper training and minimum age of the animals such as cats and dogs for Animal Assisted Therapy (Friedman, Katcher and Thomas, 1983). Moreover, there are some potential risks associated with the animals used in the therapy like contact to endoparasite and transmission of infectious diseases which may cause allergy to the patient treated. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the animals used in the therapy are risk free. Although there are many arguments against the Animal Assisted Therapy, but still the positive outcomes generated by this therapy are much more. Background of the study Due to various factors, depression and anxiety is increasingly evidenced in the U.S population. For this, many treatments are being used by health practitioners to reduce depression and anxiety so that evil factors such as suicide could be reduced or eliminated. Many researches in the past have evidenced success of this therapeutic treatment where AAT was applied to different settings like school children, nursing homes, and hospitals etc and favorable results were recorded. This study is based to find out the success of Animal Assisted Therapy in nursing home patients suffering from depression and anxiety due to their illness. Aims and objectives To find out whether Animal Assisted Therapy has positive impact on the patients suffering from anxiety. To find out whether Animal Assisted Therapy has positive impact on the patients suffering from depression. To what extent Animal Assisted therapy helps nursing home patients. Hypothesis In this study, there are two dependent variables i.e., depression and anxiety; and one independent variable i.e. Animal Assisted Therapy. Therefore, the hypothesis drawn is as follows. Ho: The nursing home patients’ anxiety and depression can be lessened by providing animal assisted therapy. H1: The nursing home patients’ anxiety and depression cannot be lessened by providing animal assisted therapy. Problem Statement Nursing home patients mostly suffer from mental stress that leads to the development of depression and anxiety in them and Animal assisted therapy has been found to help in reducing sources of such mental disorders. Therefore the problem statement for this study is “to evaluate the effect of animal assisted therapy on nursing home patients keeping in view the depression and anxiety they suffer from.” Scope of the study The research will be restricted to the patients of nursing home resided within US. As the study focuses the modern Animal Assisted Therapy but more future researches and advancements in medical sciences can affect the result of the variables under consideration. This research would help to analyze the effect of AAT on nursing home patients for the treatment of depression and anxiety. Moreover, this study will contribute to the body of national research which will provide a basis for more extensive research. Limitations One of the limitations involved in this research is the deficiency of test for depression and anxiety that are self-reported and involve normative data. Moreover, there is no single widely accepted and extensively used measure to gauge the dimensional anxiety in normal and mentally or physically suffering people. The same is the case with depression. The sample involved in the study undertaken was restricted to older nursing home patients. However, the measurement tools employed in the study undertaken were self-reporting in nature. This was essential as the test was to be repeated various times, and it was difficult to assign such responsibility to any investigative body. However, it is perceived that people may respond to such gauges in a way that is socially desirable and it may affect the validity of the results. Literature Review A report “Conceptual Framework for Animal Assisted Therapy” by Tracy S. Geist (2011), addresses some issues surrounding Animal Assisted Therapy. In current era, Animal-assisted Therapy is gaining popularity and both adults and children are benefited by this therapeutic treatment. The author used Animal Assisted therapy in a school setting where the students taken under consideration were emotionally disturbed due to various factors such as friend’s commitment of suicide, parents arrested for criminal act charges, etc. Under such cases, emotional support program were conducted where the students in trauma were given treatment therapy through dogs. Moreover, the research proposes a conceptual framework which includes a cognitive, psychological and physiological model that portrays the functional deficits encountered by students who are emotionally disturbed. Moreover, the paper (Geist, 2011) discusses Attachment Theory that deals with the Neuro-physiological Features and Psychological Features. The theory suggests any child who has an unorganized statement of mind and insecure attachment with the caregiver, is not capable to control arousal states that she or he experiences. This in-security takes form of Psychological disorders. Cognitive theory supports the fact that when an individual develops strong negative perceptions or insecure attachment style or rejections, he or she develops a self created model of negative behavior that influences his or her personality. That individual starts behaving negatively. The paper also states some Empirical Studies that has used Animals in Therapy that proves that therapeutic treatment using Animals are successful in reducing physiological reaction to stress; however, it is encouraged to be applied by all and utilize it as an effective therapeutic treatment. This area needs more research and practical implication. In a report by Christina Risley-Curtiss (2010), the human and animal companion relation has been explored among the social workers. It is a descriptive study wanted to investigate nationally how much social workers know about the human and companion animal bond and what they’ve done in this field. The outcomes yielded that the social workers had a few knowledge of the positive and negative types of such relationships, but, most of them didn’t include companion animals in practice. Especially concerning findings were that approximately 33% inquired about animals in assessment while only 12% of the total sample {n = 1,649) questioned customers animal unkindness. A shocking outcome was that those who had been including animals of in practice were doing so without the required training. The various reasons respondents provided for not involving animals in practice were lack of training and education regarding the benefits and the ways such animals could be involved in practice, lack of consideration regarding the value and significance of recognizing animal brutality in customers, and the lack of data about the huge types and numbers of organizations and agencies involving animal aided work (Risley-Curtiss, 2010) Among the various ways, suggested by this study (Risley-Curtiss, 2010), to overcome the factors that lead to the noninvolvement of companion animals by the social workers in their practice, one was the propagation of animal-aided therapy programs all over the United States, including the Eden Alternative, and Green Chimneys and equine aided therapy. It was also suggested that the social work values regarding diversity are restricted to human species. It suggested that through suitable training, social workers can aid people in enhancing their lives by helping with their comrade animals as they may connect customers to animal food banks as well as economical veterinary services. Moreover it was suggested that they can authorize the significance of a nonhuman member of the family and convey the positive impact of building such a relationship to the client families. Finally, it was recommended that they may recognize and treat customers with historical record of animal abuse in order to avoid such problems in future. The social work research requires enlarging its scope to take in the absence or presence of comrade animals, and dwell into the nature of such relationships. Theoretical framework Explanation of the variables The given study involves two dependent variables i.e. depression and anxiety while one independent variable i.e. animal assisted therapy. It is proposed that the animal assisted therapy leads to the lessening of depression and anxiety among individuals. Dependent variables Depression is usually considered as a serious mental illness, medically. It's usually characterized with sadness, weight change, lack of sleep or over sleeping, inability to enjoy, energy loss, sensing self insignificance and the regular onset of thoughts regarding death and suicide. Anxiety on the other hand is a feeling of uneasiness, fear, and worry, although its sources are not known. Independent variable Animal assisted therapy involves animals for the treatment purpose. The main objective of AAT is to enhance a patient’s emotional, cognitive, or, social functioning. Usually domestic pets are involved in such therapies. Methodology Sampling A simple random sample of home based nursing patients, 65 years and older, from US, was drawn. The pet selected for the therapy was dog. The criteria for exclusion was determined to be dog fear and development of unwanted allergic problems to dogs while inclusion criteria involved informed consent and no allergic problems to dogs. The criteria were applicable to both control and AAT group. Sample Size The sample included 16 home based nursing patients with equal proportion of male and female. The sample was then randomly distributed into two groups, the Animal-assisted activity and the control having equal number of participants. All participants were handicapped and required assistance in moving. Measures The BDI, Beck Depression Inventory 15 was employed to gauge depression symptoms. It’s a self report gauge consisting of 21-item and has been widely utilized in research regarding depression. To gauge anxiety symptoms, The BAI, Beck Anxiety Inventory 17 was employed. It is also a self reporting gauge consisting of 21-item and has been employed extensively in research involving anxiety. Treatment Only the animal-assisted therapy group was provided a half an hour therapy twice in a week for four weeks. These visitations involved a qualified dog employed as Therapy and handler. These visitations were scheduled and were repeated on the same time for the proposed period. The pet was leashed and the patients were permitted to interact by patting, talking and grooming the dog on their own will. The same pet was utilized for therapy during the course of experiment. However, the participants of control group were not provided such therapy till the course of experiment. Data Analysis For performing data analysis, SPSS version 16, was engaged. As the sample size was small and expected to not having normal distribution, the Friedman test was employed. Findings and Analysis In order to find whether Animal Assisted therapy lessens depression and anxiety in nursing home patients, Dogs were used for therapy purpose. In order to find significance of the research result, Friedman test was applied. The data collected in Appendix A shows that effects of Animal Assisted Therapy on patients were tested on different weeks i.e. each week during the course of 4 weeks. During examination, significant positive changes were felt by the patients that reflect the success of the therapeutic treatment. However, the SPSS generated analysis shows following results. Explanation of Friedman test Test Statisticsa N 4 Chi-Square 3.000 Df 1 Asymp. Sig. .083 a. Friedman Test Ranks Mean Rank Depression 1.88 Anxiety 1.12 At 𝞪=0.01 (significance level) and 99% confidence level, the above mentioned test was performed. Alternate hypothesis i.e. The nursing home patients’ depression and anxiety cannot be lessened by providing animal assisted therapy, was rejected as p-value ≤ 0.01 i.e. 0.083 while the proposed null hypothesis was accepted. The values of chi-square tell whether the variables observed differ from hypothesized proportions. As stated in “Test Statistics” the positive values of chi-square with one degrees of freedom = 3.000 and p = .083 shows that the test is statistically significant. Conclusion The study concludes Animal Assisted Therapy has positive effect to lessen Anxiety and Depression among Nursing Home Patients. This research results ensures and supports all the previous researches. Although, due to some potential risk factors involved will animal therapy, some professors in medical field arguments against this therapy. However, growing evidences proves that pet therapy or Animal Assisted Therapy is successful in reducing psychological factors, cognitive factors, behavioral factors and helps in rehabilitation or recovery from severe diseases of cardiovascular, cancer and blood pressure etc. Both, the literature analysis and the Friedman test conducted in this research shows that Animal Assisted therapy has effective results. Thus, this therapy should be given more emphasis as it has more productive and successful results. Besides this, more research should be conducted so that more people could be benefitted from Animal Assisted Therapy. Thus, it is recommended to health practitioners, nurses, doctors and medical professionals to use Animal Assisted Therapy to benefit affected patients in U.S. References Friedman, E., Katcher, A.H., and Thomas, S.A. (1983). Social interaction and blood pressure: influence of companion animals. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 461-465. Gagnon, J., Bouchard, F., Landry, M., Belles-Isles, M., Fortier, M., and Fillion, L. (2004). Implementing a hospital-based animal therapy program for children with cancer: A descriptive study. Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal, 14(4), 217–222. Geist, T.S. (2011). Conceptual Framework for Animal Assisted Therapy. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 28, 243–256. Johnson, R. A. and Haubner, J. S. (2008). Animal-Assisted Activity among Patients With Cancer: Effects on Mood, Fatigue, Self-Perceived Health, and Sense of Coherence. Oncology Nursing Forum, 35(2), 225-232. Le Roux, M. C. and Kemp, R. (2009). Effect of a companion dog on depression and anxiety levels of elderly residents in a long-term care facility. PSYCHOGERIATRICS, 9, 23–26. Muschel, I. (1984). Pet therapy with terminal patients with cancer. Social Casework, 65(8), 451–458. Risley-Curtiss, C. (2010). Social Work Practitioners and the Human-Companion Animal Bond: A National Study. Social Work, 55(1), 38-46. Schnipper, H.H. (2005). Goldens rule: Two golden retrievers help a cancer survivor live and love. MAMM Women, Cancer, and Community, 7(1), 12. Siegel, J.M. (1990). Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: the moderating role of pet ownership. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1081-1086. Stasi, M. F., Amati, D., and Costa, C. (2004). Pet-therapy: a trial for institutionalized frail elderly patients. Arch Gerontol Geriatr, 9(Suppl), 407–412. Weber, P.J. (2004). Finding hope. Pet project: With pet therapy, “dog days” take on new meaning. CURE: Cancer Updates, Research, and Education, 3(3), 52–54. Wells, M.J. (1998). The effect of pets on children’s stress responses during medical procedures. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Appendix A Depression Anxiety 1 week 5 2 2 week 6 5 3week 4 4 4 week 2 1 Read More