Abstract
An exploratory Animal Assisted Intervention study was conducted employing farm animals with individuals living with dementia living in a residential environment to assess if the intervention had any impact on behaviour. Fifteen individuals met the eligibility criteria but only 10 were able to participate in more than 67% of the sessions that consisted of petting, grooming and walking the animals; singing animal related songs, learning about the animal's history, species and breed; training the animal; reminiscing about past human-animal interactions and relationships; and reflecting on the animal's behaviours and story in relation to their own self. Individuals engaged in three one hour sessions for each of eight weeks. Outcomes were either positive or neutral with increased restful sleeping, decreases in verbally aggressive behaviour and depression and being less resistive to care was documented. The outcomes were sufficient to warrant a larger scale investigation working with farm animals and this population.
Highlights
Humans and animals have been evolving together through the domestication process that has occurred over the past ten thousand years
With the aging population and rise in dementia rates, long term care facilities are seeking alternatives to pharmacological interventions as a healthier, safer and more cost effective approach to managing responsive behaviours which include aggression, wandering, restlessness, and repeated negative actions. This exploratory study examined the impact of farm animal assisted intervention as a means to reduce these responsive behaviours
Despite increasing research regarding the beneficial impact of animals on human physical and mental health, these benefits are not fully understood as the majority of research remains anecdotal and descriptive (Stern & Chur-Hansen, 2013)
Summary
Humans and animals have been evolving together through the domestication process that has occurred over the past ten thousand years. It is only within the last 100 years that the majority of humans in the developed world have made a move away from regular contact with farm animals; and according to Olmert, we are the first society to disengage from animals in with our abrupt shift from farm to factory lifestyle following the schizophrenia. This contributed to a 14% increase in moderately aggressive behaviour with nearly half of residents exhibiting some level of aggressive behaviour between 2010 and 2012. Little has been written regarding if it has any merit for those suffering from dementia
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