Animal-Assisted Therapy for people with dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Bonding at the very end: Emerging personhood during end-of-life and palliative care through Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)
IRAS ID
248722
Contact name
Cristina Raluca Douglas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Miss
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NCT03946696, clinicaltrials.gov
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
This study is an anthropological research that explores the effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) for people with moderate and severe dementia living in 2 care homes in Aberdeen area.
The study aims to understand cognition, affection, communication and behaviour in moderate and severe stages of dementia in an interaction with a non-verbal animal. Ultimately, the research aims to understand how the relation with an animal can improve care of people with moderate and severe dementia who live in care facilities.
The study looks at AAT effects on: Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia; mood; quality of life; activity (physical); and appetite. The AAT effects on people with moderate and later stages of dementia will be compared with effects that other activities provided in the care facility where participants live, may have on the same participants.
In this research, we will focus on therapy-dogs and therapy-owls for people with dementia living in care homes.
The research will be conducted over a period of 12 months. The primary methods that will be used are participant observation (accompanying and observing volunteers during animal-assisted therapy meetings and various activities in the care homes) and interviewing the residents, care homes' staff, volunteers, canine trainers and veterinarians. Additional data will be collected through document analysis (consulting care home policies and participants’ care plans and notes) and auto-ethnography (auto-observations of interactions between the student and 2 dogs). While the focus of the research remains on the interactions between people with dementia and therapy-animals, the involvement of the other participants offers different perspectives of looking at these interactions and at their context. For anthropological research, it is fundamental that a certain topic/issue is addressed in its context by gathering information from multiple perspectives. This has been documented as one of the biggest strengths of anthropological research investigating a clinical-related topic.REC name
Scotland A: Adults with Incapacity only
REC reference
19/SS/0083
Date of REC Opinion
19 Nov 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion