Covariate Variables Research Articles

Cost effectiveness in palliative care setting

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the cost effectiveness of palliative care on patients in a home health and hospice setting. Secondary data set was utilized to test the hypotheses of this study. Home health care and hospice care services have the potential to avert hospital admissions in patients requiring palliative care, which significantly affects medicare spending. With the aging population, it has become evident that demand of palliative care will increase four-fold. It was determined that current spending on end-of-life care is radically emptying medicare funds and fiscally weakening numerous families who have patients under palliative care during life-threatening illnesses. The study found that a majority of people registering for palliative and hospice care settings are above the age group of 55 years old.Design/methodology/approachDifferent variables like length of stay, mode of payment and disease diagnosis were used to filter the available data set. Secondary data were utilized to test the hypothesis of this study. There are very few studies on hospice and palliative care services and no study focuses on the cost associated with this care. Since a very large number of the USA, population is turning 65 and over, it is very important to analyze the cost of care for palliative and hospice care. For the purpose of this analysis, data were utilized from the National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS), which has been conducted periodically by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Descriptive statistics, χ2 tests and t-tests were used to test for statistical significance at the p<0.05 level.FindingsThe Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilized for this result. H1 predicted that patients in the age group of 65 years and up have the highest utilization of home and hospice care. This study examined various demographic variables in hospice and home health care which may help to evaluate the cost of care and the modes of payments. This section of the result presents the descriptive analysis of dependent, independent and covariate variables that provide the overall national estimates on differences in use of home and hospice care in various age groups and sex.Research limitations/implicationsThe data set used was from the 2007 NHHCS survey, no data have been collected thereafter, and therefore, gap in data analysis may give inaccurate findings. To compensate for this gap in the data set, recent studies were reviewed which analyzed cost in palliative care in the USA. There has been a lack of evidence to prove the cost savings and improved quality of life in palliative/hospice care. There is a need for new research on the various cost factors affecting palliative care services as well as considering the quality of life. Although, it is evident that palliative care treatment is less expensive as compared to the regular care, since it eliminates the direct hospitalization cost, but there is inadequate research to prove that it improves the quality of life. A detailed research is required considering the additional cost incurred in palliative/hospice care services and a cost-benefit analysis of the same.Practical implicationsWhile various studies reporting information applicable to the expenses and effect of family caregiving toward the end-of-life were distinguished, none of the previous research discussed this issue as their central focus. Most studies addressed more extensive financial effect of palliative and end-of-life care, including expenses borne by the patients themselves, the medicinal services framework and safety net providers or beneficent/willful suppliers. This shows a significant hole in the current writing.Social implicationsWith the aging population, it has become evident that demand of palliative/hospice care will increase four-fold. The NHHCS have stopped keeping track of the palliative care requirements after 2007, which has a negative impact on the growing needs. Cost analysis can only be performed by analyzing existing data. This review has recognized a huge niche in the evidence base with respect to the cost cares of giving care and supporting a relative inside a palliative/hospice care setting.Originality/valueThe study exhibited that cost diminishments in aggressive medications can take care of the expenses of palliative/hospice care services. The issue of evaluating result in such a physically measurable way is complicated by the impalpable nature of large portions of the individual components of outcome. Although physical and mental well-being can be evaluated to a certain degree, it is significantly more difficult to gauge in a quantifiable way, the social and profound measurements of care that help fundamentally to general quality of care.

Preoperative Mechanical Bowel Evacuation Reduces Intraoperative Bleeding and Operation Time in Spinal Surgery.

Study DesignRandomized clinical trial.PurposeIn this study, we evaluated the effect of mechanical evacuation of the bowels prior to operation on intraoperative bleeding.Overview of LiteratureBleeding is the most significant complication in patients undergoing spinal surgery.MethodsWe randomly divided 108 individuals planned to undergo spinal surgery into two age-, sex-, and co-morbidity (especially preoperative hemoglobin [Hb])-matched groups of 54. The treatment group was administered polyethylene glycol (PEG) before the operation, whereas the control group was not. The exact amount (mL) of bleeding during operation, operative time, and approximate amount of blood transfused were recorded. The volume of bleeding and Hb level were also recorded 24 and 48 hours postoperatively.ResultsT-tests revealed that intraoperative bleeding, the volume of transfusion, and operative time were significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group. Statistically significant correlations of intraoperative bleeding with age, body mass index (BMI), preoperative Hb levels, operative time, the volume of transfusion, hospitalization time, and 24- and 48-hour postoperative bleeding were observed (p =0.001, all). Repeated measures analysis of covariance after adjusting the covariate variables revealed that the volume of bleeding showed a near-significant trend in the treatment group compared with that in the control group (p =0.056). Diabetic females had the highest bleeding amount between the groups (p =0.03). Bleeding was higher in patients with higher BMI (p =0.02) and was related to operative time (p =0.001) in both the groups.ConclusionsPreoperative gastrointestinal tract evacuation by PEG administration can decrease intraoperative bleeding in spinal surgeries; however, more research is imperative regarding PEG administration in surgical procedures for this purpose.

Penalization methods with group-wise sparsity: econometric applications to eBay Motors online auctions

This paper investigates several recent developments in statistical penalization methods with applications to econometric models and economic data. When the set of covariate variables can be categorized into groups, we propose to use the Group Lasso (Yuan and Lin in J R Stat Soc Ser B 68(1):49–67, 2006) and Sparse Group Lasso (Simon et al. in J Comput Graph Stat 22(2):231–245, 2013) techniques to achieve group-wise sparsity. When estimating a structural model in empirical auctions work, these methods can flexibly control for observable heterogeneity by producing better, simpler first-stage fits for the approaches as proposed by Haile et al. (in: NBER working paper no. 10105, 2003) and Athey and Haile (in: Chapter 60 in handbook of econometrics, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2007). In applying these methods to eBay Motors auction data, the models with group-wise sparsity are compared to the benchmark models and commonly used penalization methods with only parameter-wise regularization. Empirical results show that the Sparse Group Lasso method yields comparable or even better prediction performance than its counterparts in both linear regression and binary classification. Furthermore, it can drastically reduce the complexity of the model and produce a much more parsimonious model.

Heat transfer in a one-dimensional harmonic crystal in a viscous environment subjected to an external heat supply

We consider unsteady heat transfer in a one-dimensional harmonic crystal surrounded by a viscous environment and subjected to an external heat supply. The basic equations for the crystal particles are stated in the form of a system of stochastic differential equations. We perform a continualization procedure and derive an infinite set of linear partial differential equations for covariance variables. An exact analytic solution describing unsteady ballistic heat transfer in the crystal is obtained. It is shown that the stationary spatial profile of the kinetic temperature caused by a point source of heat supply of constant intensity is described by the Macdonald function of zero order. A comparison with the results obtained in the framework of the classical heat equation is presented. We expect that the results obtained in the paper can be verified by experiments with laser excitation of low-dimensional nanostructures.

Factors influencing quality of life in patients followed in the neurosonology laboratory for carotid stenosis

BackgroundQuality of life (QoL) is one of the main endpoints in stroke prevention or acute stroke treatment studies. The aim of the current study was to identify risk factors affecting the QoL of patients with carotid stenosis in stroke prevention.MethodsSelf-sufficient patients (50–80 years of age) with ≥20% carotid artery stenosis followed in the neurosonology laboratory, and without any severe illnesses within the last 12 months, dementia, or psychiatric disorders were selected for the study after signing informed consent. Patients completed two standardized QoL questionnaires (WHOQoL-BREF and EQ-5D-3 L) and a visual pain scale, provided covariate variables (medication, age, gender, education, and social situation), and the blood pressure and body mass indexes were recorded. Logistic regression (forward stepwise method) was used to identify factors affecting the individual domains of QoL questionnaires.ResultsOf the 584 consecutive patients, 502 met the inclusion criteria and 344 completely filled both QoL questionnaires (164 men; mean age, 69.7 ± 7.8 years). An independent predictor of worse QoL in all domains was pain. Independent factors decreasing the QoL were lower level of education and blood pressure in the physical health domain, female gender in the psychological domain, and male gender in the social relationships domain. Independent factors decreasing satisfaction with health status were female gender and higher blood pressure. Factors negatively influencing the satisfaction with the QoL were living alone, lower level of education, and higher diastolic blood pressure (WHOQoL-BREF). Factors negatively influencing mobility were age, male gender, living alone, lower level of education, and higher body mass index (EQ-5D-3 L; p < 0.05 in all cases).ConclusionsPain, blood pressure, body mass index, education, living alone, gender, and age were associated with the QoL in patients with carotid stenosis.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02360137. Registered on 26 January 2015.

Do sentiments influence market dynamics? A reconstruction of the Brazilian stock market and its mood

Sentiments play an important role in justifying economic actions and are typically presented as being a modern incarnation of expectations that influence financial markets, whether they be of a Keynesian or other type. For the case of the São Paulo Stock Market Index (IBovespa), this paper investigates whether sentiments, as publically expressed in specialised media, represent a covariate variable which influences stock market returns, and also how market dynamics evolve through time, especially in times of major shocks or recessions. In this study we use a network approach to relate the evolution of asset returns to a sentiments index. Daily data from IBovespa and a Thomson Reuters MarketPsych index are used as fair indicators of the evolution of the Brazilian economy from 2007 to 2015. We prove that changes in market prices affect news more than the reverse.

Verification of early childhood health improvement program

[Purpose] The present study attempted to verify the effectiveness of an early childhood physical health improvement program (subsequently in the present study, KICCE Early Childhood Health Improvement Program) developed in Korea by modifying and improving the Mission-X: Train Like an Astronaut program developed by NASA to be suitable for children of ages 4 and 5. [Methods] The subjects in the study were 679 children at 7 facilities in Seongnam city, Osan city, and Yongin city, of which 4 were daycares and 3 were kindergartens. The participant group consisted of 339 children, and the control group consisted of 340 children. The program consisted of total 24 activities 3 times a week over 8 weeks, of which 8 activities were related to nutrition and 16 activities were related to physical activity, and in the 9th and 10th weeks, the 16 physical activities were reconfigured and performed 3 times a week. Physical parameters and related fitness parameters were measured before and after the program, and an ANCOVA analysis was performed in which descriptive statistics and scores before the program were the covariate variables. [Results] The results show that first, growth statuses of participant children were in the upper middle section of the distribution, and second, of the 6 fitness developments, flexibility, balance, and quickness were improved, and in most areas, boys and below-normal-BMI group showed beneficial effects. [Conclusion] Thus, KICCE Early Childhood Health Improvement Program is conclusively proven to be effective for early-childhood physical development.

Equivalence of Regression Curves

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the problem whether the difference between two parametric models m1, m2 describing the relation between a response variable and several covariates in two different groups is practically irrelevant, such that inference can be performed on the basis of the pooled sample. Statistical methodology is developed to test the hypotheses H0: d(m1, m2) ⩾ ϵ versus H1: d(m1, m2) < ϵ to demonstrate equivalence between the two regression curves m1, m2 for a prespecified threshold ϵ, where d denotes a distance measuring the distance between m1 and m2. Our approach is based on the asymptotic properties of a suitable estimator of this distance. To improve the approximation of the nominal level for small sample sizes, a bootstrap test is developed, which addresses the specific form of the interval hypotheses. In particular, data have to be generated under the null hypothesis, which implicitly defines a manifold for the parameter vector. The results are illustrated by means of a simulation study and a data example. It is demonstrated that the new methods substantially improve currently available approaches with respect to power and approximation of the nominal level.

Abstract P6-11-10: Impact of disease progression on health-related quality of life in patients with metastatic breast cancer in the PRAEGNANT breast cancer registry

Abstract Background: Improved progression-free survival is considered as treatment goal for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) since it is assumed to delay or prevent deterioration of quality of life.Aim of our analysis was to examine the influence of disease progression on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods: The PRAEGNANT study comprises a real-life registry for patients with MBC. HRQoL was assessed with the EORTC-QLQ-C30 Version 3.0 questionnaire at study entry and every 3 months thereafter. The primary endpoint was minimally important deterioration (MID) in global HRQoL score by ≥ five points between baseline and any follow-up assessment. A logistic regression model was built with MID (yes/no) at a follow-up timepoint as outcome variable and several covariates as predictors. Results: In total, 329 patients were included in this analysis, with disease progression in 63 patients. Concerning the primary study aim, progression status predicted MID of global HRQoL status in addition to the other covariates. The adjusted odds ratio for the effect of progression status on MID was 2.22 (95% CI: 1.04 – 4.73). Comparisons of mean differences of QoL domains/scales yielded no differences. Conclusions: We provide evidence that disease progression in patients with metastatic breast cancer in a real-world registry has a significant negative impact on HRQoL as measured by MID of HRQoL. This study emphasizes the relevance of avoiding progression and prolonging PFS to maintain QoL. Citation Format: Wallwiener M, Nabieva N, Haeberle L, Taran FA, Hartkopf AD, Volz B, Overkamp F, Brandl AL, Kolberg H-C, Hadji P, Tesch H, Ettl J, Lux MP, Lueftner D, Belleville E, Fasching PA, Janni W, Beckmann MW, Wimberger P, Hielscher C, Fehm T, Brucker SY, Wallwiener D, Schneeweiss A, Mueller V. Impact of disease progression on health-related quality of life in patients with metastatic breast cancer in the PRAEGNANT breast cancer registry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-11-10.

On Sample-Size Calculations for Precise Contrast Analysis in ANCOVA

ABSTRACTThe analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) is a useful statistical procedure that incorporates covariate features into the adjustment of treatment effects. The consequences of omitted prognostic covariates on the statistical inferences of ANCOVA are well documented in the literature. However, the corresponding influence on sample-size calculations for precise interval estimation has not been fully evaluated. This article aims to explicate the deficiency of approximate methods for ignoring the stochastic nature of covariate variables and to present exact approaches for precise interval estimation of treatment contrasts under the assumption that the covariate variables have a joint multinormal distribution. The desired precision of a confidence interval is assessed with respect to the control of expected half-width and to the assurance probability of interval half-width within a designated value. Numerical appraisals show that the suggested approaches outperform the approximate formulas for the two precision considerations.

EFEK APLIKASI PENDEKATAN BERMAIN TERHADAP KEMAMPUAN PASSING MENYUSUR TANAH

&lt;p&gt;This research aims to determine the effectiveness of the effects of applications using playing approach to the ability of passing along the ground on the football school AD Batik Surakarta age group 13-14 years old, and a better approach effect between playing approach and technique approach to the ability of passing along the ground on the football school AD Batik Surakarta age 13-14 years old.&lt;br /&gt;The research subjects in this research are students of the football school AD Batik Surakarta age group 13-14 years old with the number of 30 students. The method which is used is Quasi Experimental Research (QER) conducted with pretest-posttest design Matching Comparrison Control Group Design. The technique of data collection in this research is testing and measurement capabilities passing along the ground. The data analysis technique used is inferential statistical analysis.&lt;br /&gt;The results of this research are as follows, first, the playing approach application gives an effect on the ability of passing along the ground on the football school AD Batik Surakarta age group 13-14 years whichcan be seen from the comparison inferentially increases from 30.5% (without variable covariates ) to 76.2% (with variable covariate). Second, the playing approach application has a better effect than a technical approach to the ability of passing along the ground on a football school AD Batik Surakarta age group 13-14 years old. Based on the percentage of the increasing of the ability of passing along the ground shows that the experimental group (the group treated with the playing approach ) is 72.7% greater than the control group (the group which treated with technique approach) is 31.1%.&lt;br /&gt;The conclusion of the research is the application using playing approach gives the effect to ability of the passing along the ground and the application using playing approach has a better efect than the technique approach to the ability of passing along the ground on the football school AD Batik Surakarta age 13-14 years old.&lt;/p&gt;

Pengaruh Kepemimpinan Situasional dan Budaya Organisasi terhadap Team Work serta Implikasinya pada Kinerja Organisasi

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze: (1) how the condition of situational leadership,organizational culture, team work and organizational performance. (2) how the influence of situationalleadership scale effect on Team Work. (3) how the influence of organizational culture effect on Team Work.(4)how much the Situational Leadership and Organizational Culture influence on Team Work (5) how much theimplications of Team Work on Organizational Performance in Office of County and City of West Java Province.The result showed: (1) Implementation Situational, Leadership, Organization Culture, Team Work andOrganizational Performance accurate on Departments in good classification storey; level.(2) Covariancevariables average Situational Leadership could predictability Situational Leadership of 62.10%, the effect ofpartial structurally Situational Leadership to Team Work of 41.95%. (3) Covariance variable averageOrganizational Culture could predictability Organizational Culture of 76.50%., Organizational Culturestructurally partial effect on Team Work of 30.87%. (4) Situational leadership structurally and CulturalOrganization Team Work simultaneous influence of 72.82%. The remaining balance of 27.18% is the mistakeof excluding variable indicators research (5) Team Work Covariance variables, the average could predictabilitythe Team Work of 81.85%. Team Work partially structurally influence the performance of the Organization of74.38%, the remaining balance of 25.62% is the mistake of the variable indicators outside the study (6)Covariance Organizational Performance variables, the average could affect Organizational performance of76,95%.

Can trail spatial attributes predict trail use level in urban forest park? An examination integrating GPS data and space syntax theory

Understanding users’ spatial distribution in forest park is crucial for providing visitors with quality recreation experiences and for park planning and management. Utilizing users’ spatial distribution data, this study aims at investigating associations between trail use level and trail spatial attributes, through examining two large urban forest parks (Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park) in Shanghai, China. Users’ spatial distribution was measured utilizing GPS trackers with the interval of 10seconds. This study conceptualizes trail spatial attributes as trail metric attributes and trail configurational attributes. Trail metric attributes include trail mean distance to gates, length, width and level of enclosure, which are calculated based on park map and on-site observation. We computed trail configurational attributes utilizing space syntax theory, which comprise measures of global integration, control, and connectivity. Trail connection with features/facilities, visual connection with water and shading are included as covariate variables. In total, we obtained 134 valid samples in Gongqing forest park and 210 valid samples in Paotaiwan forest park for analysis. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that when involving covariate variables, consistently in both parks, a greater trail usage is significantly related to trail shorter mean distance to park gate, trail width wider than 3meters, higher global integration and higher control values. Collectively, these four trail spatial attributes explained 31.7% (p<0.001) and 27.3% (p<0.001) of the variances in trail use level in Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park. These findings provide direct implications to park designers and managers for providing visitors with different desirable social conditions, and ultimately improve users’ experiences and satisfactions.

Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations in China

In China, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) play an important supervisory role to address ecological issues together with government regulation and enterprise implementation. This study examines the effect of ENGO presence on corporate environmental responsibility (CER) performance, along with internal factors as covariate variables. With a sample of 677 enterprises, it operationalizes the independent variable in terms of the number of ENGOs within certain distances from each enterprise, and the dependent variable based on the corporate social responsibility report using the specific criteria in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines. The results of Tobit regression analyses indicate that ENGO presence is conducive to CER performance, and asset size, power concentration, and industry type also make differences. The findings suggest that ENGOs are helpful in solving environment issues by bridging the gap between private and public sectors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Joint model selection of marginal mean regression and correlation structure for longitudinal data with missing outcome and covariates.

This work develops a joint model selection criterion for simultaneously selecting the marginal mean regression and the correlation/covariance structure in longitudinal data analysis where both the outcome and the covariate variables may be subject to general intermittent patterns of missingness under the missing at random mechanism. The new proposal, termed "joint longitudinal information criterion" (JLIC), is based on the expected quadratic error for assessing model adequacy, and the second-order weighted generalized estimating equation (WGEE) estimation for mean and covariance models. Simulation results reveal that JLIC outperforms existing methods performing model selection for the mean regression and the correlation structure in a two stage and hence separate manner. We apply the proposal to a longitudinal study to identify factors associated with life satisfaction in the elderly of Taiwan.

A relative error-based estimation with an increasing number of parameters

ABSTRACTThe least product relative error (LPRE) estimator and test statistic to test linear hypotheses of regression parameters in the multiplicative regression model are studied when the number of covariate variables increases with the sample size. Some properties of the LPRE estimator and test statistic are obtained such as consistency, Bahadur presentation, and asymptotic distributions. Furthermore, we extend the LPRE to a more general relative error criterion and provide their statistical properties. Numerical studies including simulations and two real examples show that the proposed estimation performs well.

Evaluatıon of Serum Dıgoxın Level ın Dıabetıc Patıents ın a 5 Year Retrospectıve Cohort Study

It has been reported that diabetic conditions may alter the expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) or its functional activity, and therefore affecting the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs which are P-gp substrates. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the serum level of digoxin, a P-gp subtype, is different in diabetic patients by controlling the effect of other covariate variables. This is a retrospective cohort study evaluating the data measured in the first day of admission to the hospital of patients treated with oral digoxin, who were hospitalized in a university hospital between January 2011 and December 2015. General linear model (GLM) was used for analysis. In this model, digoxin level is dependent variable and diabetes mellitus is fix factor, while age, gender, BUN, creatinine and potassium levels are covariate. P <0.05 was accepted as statistical significant. In this study, total number of hospitalizations was 2974 and DM ratio was 10.7% (n=319). The mean age was 73.1 ± 13.0. The serum digoxin concentration in diabetic patients was calculated as 0.9 ± 0.8 ng/mL (0-4.7ng/mL), and 1.01 ± 1.0 ng/mL (0-15ng/mL) in the non-diabetic patients. In GLM analysis, in the presence of diabetes it was found that digoxin levels decreased significantly (p = 0.016) and other covariate variables such as age, gender, potassium, creatinine and BUN significantly affected the serum digoxin level (P values are p=0.004, p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.002, p=0.012, respectively). We found that serum digoxin levels decreased in the presence of diabetes. However, further research is needed to determine whether low serum levels of digoxin in diabetic patients are associated with an increase in P-gp expression due to diabetic conditions.

Using Landscape Characteristics to Predict Distribution of Temperate-Breeding Canada Geese

Abstract Accurate estimates of species' distributions are needed to ensure that conservation-planning efforts are directed at appropriate areas. Since the early 1980s, temperate-breeding populations of Branta canadensis (Canada Goose) have increased, yet reliable estimates of the species' distribution are lacking in many regions. Our objective was to identify the landcover features that best predicted Canada Goose distribution. In April 2015, we surveyed 300 one-km2 plots across North Carolina and observed 449 Canada Geese. We quantified percent coverage of 7 continuous landcover variables at 5 different spatial extents for each of the 300 plots. We fit logistic regression models using presence and absence at the 300 plots as the dependent variable and percent-cover covariates as independent variables. The best model for predicting Canada Goose presence included percent pasture within the 9 km2 surrounding the survey plot and percent open water within the 1-km2 survey plot. The probability of Canada Goose...

On tests of treatment-covariate interactions: An illustration of appropriate power and sample size calculations.

The appraisals of treatment-covariate interaction have theoretical and substantial implications in all scientific fields. Methodologically, the detection of interaction between categorical treatment levels and continuous covariate variables is analogous to the homogeneity of regression slopes test in the context of ANCOVA. A fundamental assumption of ANCOVA is that the regression slopes associating the response variable with the covariate variable are presumed constant across treatment groups. The validity of homogeneous regression slopes accordingly is the most essential concern in traditional ANCOVA and inevitably determines the practical usefulness of research findings. In view of the limited results in current literature, this article aims to present power and sample size procedures for tests of heterogeneity between two regression slopes with particular emphasis on the stochastic feature of covariate variables. Theoretical implications and numerical investigations are presented to explicate the utility and advantage for accommodating covariate properties. The exact approach has the distinct feature of accommodating the full distributional properties of normal covariates whereas the simplified approximate methods only utilize the partial information of covariate variances. According to the overall accuracy and robustness, the exact approach is recommended over the approximate methods as a reliable tool in practical applications. The suggested power and sample size calculations can be implemented with the supplemental SAS and R programs.

The effects of animal-assisted therapy on happiness of chronic psychiatric patients in a nursing home in Tehran: A randomized controlled study

BackgroundPsychiatric patients who live in nursing homes may often feel a loss of autonomy, decision-making, and participation in social activities. They usually had little or no visitors and also they do not have any purpose for living. Pets may decrease this problem and improve their happiness.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) on happiness of chronic psychiatric patients in nursing home.MethodThe study design was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with pre and post-test. Seventy males with chronic mental health disorder who were patients of the nursing homes were randomly divided into a pet therapy intervention group and control group. Patients in the experimental group received pet-therapy with bird as 6 weeks therapy comprising 6 sessions per week. All patients were evaluated by the Oxford happiness questionnaire before and after 6 weeks.ResultsAnalysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted and pretest was considered as a covariate variable. The result demonstrated that the patients in the experimental group had significantly increased (P &lt; 0.001) happiness in posttest scores.ConclusionIt is important to consider ways of enhancing happiness in psychiatric patients who live in the nursing homes. Also, it is appearing that AAT can be helpful for them.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.