Animal-assisted interventions in acute inpatient geriatrics

Background In the future an increasing number of patients in acute inpatient geriatric settings can be expected and their care needs new concepts. Animal-assisted interventions with dogs may represent a potential strategy to consider since animals can have a positive effect on patients' physical, psychological and social capabilities. Objective Identification of clinical and patient-specific outcome parameters by animal-assisted interventions for residents in long-term settings and discussion of the transferability of identified evidence to acute geriatric inpatient settings. Methods A literature review of animal-assisted interventions with dogs for long-term residents was conducted using the electronic databases Livivo, PubMed, CINAHL (R) and Cochrane as well as manual searching of references. Qualitative and quantitative studies from the last 16 years were included. Results A total of 12 studies were included. Of these studies 10 presented significant results and reported positive effects of animal-assisted interventions for geriatric patients based on clinical, behavioral, cognition, emotional and socializing factors, quality of life and motor skills. Conclusion Animal-assisted interventions may represent a promising intervention for patients in acute geriatric settings. In the future, research on the use of animal-assisted interventions in acute geriatric settings is needed.