運用「治療犬」方案於失智症長者照護之成效探討

The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Dog Program on the Elderly with Dementia in Nursing Homes in Taiwan

葉明理(Ming-Lee Yeh) ； 陳美麗(Mei-Li Chen) ； 徐亞瑛(Yea-Ing Shyu)

《旅遊健康學刊》 11卷1期 (2012/12) Pp. 65-77

https://doi.org/10.29863/JTHS.201212.0004

摘要

This research was to develop and evaluate a canine animal assisted therapy (ATT) program using in the elderly with dementia in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. Based on a quasi-experimental research design, 58 elderly residents with dementia in nursing homes participated in this program. Participants were divided equally into experimental (E group) and control group (C group) with 29 elders in each group. 16 times of 40-minutes designed ”Therapeutic Dog” program was applied to E group, while regular daily care activity was applied to C group, during the study period of two months. The Multidimensional Observation Scale of Elderly Subjects (MOSES), Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) and the individual therapeutic goal (ITG) were used for evaluating the effectiveness of this program. The results revealed: 1) E group had a significant improvements in CMAI and MOSES and its subscales; 2) E group had a significant improvement in the ITG fields of oral expression, movement, memory and socialization; 3) the ITG improvement was observed specially in the fields of ”active physical expression” (p ＜.001), ”movement by order”, ”quantity and quality of memory”, and ”keep focusing on topics and activities” (p ＜.05). Several suggestions of future utilization, promotion, education and research regarding the application of AAT in long-term care facilities were proposed.

關鍵字

動物輔助治療 ； 失智症 ； 老人 ； 長期照護

並列摘要

This research was to develop and evaluate a canine animal assisted therapy (ATT) program using in the elderly with dementia in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. Based on a quasi-experimental research design, 58 elderly residents with dementia in nursing homes participated in this program. Participants were divided equally into experimental (E group) and control group (C group) with 29 elders in each group. 16 times of 40-minutes designed ”Therapeutic Dog” program was applied to E group, while regular daily care activity was applied to C group, during the study period of two months. The Multidimensional Observation Scale of Elderly Subjects (MOSES), Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) and the individual therapeutic goal (ITG) were used for evaluating the effectiveness of this program. The results revealed: 1) E group had a significant improvements in CMAI and MOSES and its subscales; 2) E group had a significant improvement in the ITG fields of oral expression, movement, memory and socialization; 3) the ITG improvement was observed specially in the fields of ”active physical expression” (p ＜.001), ”movement by order”, ”quantity and quality of memory”, and ”keep focusing on topics and activities” (p ＜.05). Several suggestions of future utilization, promotion, education and research regarding the application of AAT in long-term care facilities were proposed.

並列關鍵字

Animal-assistant Therapy ； Dementia ； Elderly ； Long-Term Care