Feasibility of Home-Use Animal-Assisted Activities in Patients With Implanted Cardiac Electronic Devices

Peter Jirak,Daniel Gerger,Lisa M Glenk,Claudia Stöllberger,Christian Wegner

doi:10.1177/2158244016634408

Abstract

Animal-assisted activities (AAAs) are mainly carried out in institutions. The aim of this prospective pilot study was to assess the willingness of patients with cardiac implanted electronic devices (IEDs) to participate in AAA. The sample included 75 ambulatory patients (18 females, M age = 69 years), who attended an outpatient clinic for control of antibradycardic pacemakers ( n = 15) or implanted cardioverter defibrillators ( n = 60). Twenty-three percent were current and 48% were previous pet-owners. Current pet-owners were younger than non-pet-owners (63.5 vs. 72.0 years, p = .0003). Twelve patients (16%) showed interest in AAA visits. However, only two patients agreed to an AAA visit. Both patients were visited once, but declined further visits. Hence, AAA sessions at home were poorly accepted, mainly because the patients considered themselves too busy or healthy, or due to a general disinterest in AAA. Potential health benefits associated with AAA may not be feasible to investigate during home visits of AAA-teams in patients with IEDs who are healthy enough to leave their homes. For further studies concerning AAA in patients with cardiovascular diseases, we suggest focusing on institutions like rehabilitation centers or day care centers and on more severely sick, homebound patients.

Highlights

Animal-assisted activities (AAAs) have been applied for more than 40 years in patients with different psychological and physical disorders
Home visits for AAA are unusual in Europe; they are an offered service in the United States for homebound patients and are appreciated by patients who are too sick to leave their homes by themselves (Harris et al, 1993). It is unknown if ambulatory outpatients with cardiovascular disorders would be interested to be visited by AAA-teams in their homes. The aim of this prospective pilot study was to assess the willingness of patients with implanted electronic devices (IEDs) to participate in AAA home sessions
Step 3: The remaining 100 patients were interviewed; 25 of them were excluded because they had no IED

Summary

Introduction

Animal-assisted activities (AAAs) have been applied for more than 40 years in patients with different psychological and physical disorders. There are only few randomized studies which have investigated the effect of AAA, as listed in Table 1 (Borgi et al, 2016; Calcaterra et al, 2015; Cole, Gawlinski, Steers, & Kotlerman, 2007; Friedmann et al, 2015; Harper et al, 2015; Ko, Youn, Kim, & Kim, 2015; Majic, Gutzmann, Heinz, Lang, & Rapp, 2013; Menna, Santaniello, Gerardi, Di Maggio, & Milan, 2015; Nurenberg et al, 2015; Vagnoli et al, 2015; Wohlfarth, Mutschler, Beetz, Kreuser, & Korsten-Reck, 2013) Most of these studies were carried out in patients with psychiatric disorders

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