Estudio preliminar de la efectividad de la terapia asistida con perros en personas de la tercera edad

IntroductionAnimal-assisted therapy is increasingly present in several educational and health areas. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of such interventions in the elderly population living in residential settings.Materials and methodsA 12-week dog-assisted intervention program was designed, with 16 participants from a nursing home divided into an experimental group and a control group.ResultsSeveral physical and psychological variables were assessed before and after the intervention. While there were no significant differences in the control group, the experimental group improved significantly after participating in the program.DiscussionThe results support the hypothesis that animal-assisted interventions may be beneficial for residents in elderly care homes.