The Effect of Animal Assisted Activity to Elderly

February 10, 2023 updated by: Atlas University

The Effect of Animal Assisted Activity Applied to Elderly Individuals Living in Nursing Homes on Depression and Loneliness Levels of Individuals: I Share My Loneliness Project"

There is a global increase in the elderly population day by day. Biopsychosocial regressions and various health problems are seen in the elderly, and their care and follow-up are mostly carried out in nursing homes. It is stated that the elderly individuals living in the nursing home see the institution related to the institution they stay as an area for making friends and socializing with their peers, but the elderly individuals staying in these institutions experience various limitations. If the elderly individual's assessment of his life is positive, self-compassion is achieved, if it is negative, he falls into despair, depressive mood and loneliness symptoms can be seen. Various psychosocial interventions are recommended for elderly individuals within the scope of protecting and improving mental health. One of the interventions that can be done is animal-supported activities that provide human-animal interaction. Studies conducted in our country with animal-supported activities are very limited, and they have mostly been studied with children. In the international literature, although there are various studies within the scope of animal-supported activities, the number of studies evaluating the effect of interaction with fish is very limited, and studies with fish interaction have been recommended by various researchers. This study is unique because it is the first study in our country to evaluate the effects of animal-assisted practices on the psychosocial health of elderly individuals living in nursing homes.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

At the end of the study, it is predicted that the depression and loneliness levels of elderly individuals will decrease. Undergraduate students taking part in the study will also experience doing an experimental study. When considered in the context of Erikson's psychosocial development theory, it is thought that it is important to support the elderly individuals psychosocially in old age, which is the last stage of life. The study is an experimental study designed in a pretest and posttest pattern. The universe of the study; All nursing homes (n=12) in Şişli district will consist of elderly individuals receiving health care services. In the selection of the sample, first of all, the institution where the study will be carried out will be determined by drawing lots among the institutions, and the elderly individuals who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria will form the sample of the study. Data will be obtained with Personal Information Form (KBF), Loneliness Scale for the Elderly (YİYÖ), Yesavage Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-SF) scales. Interviews will be held individually, twice a week, for a total of 6 times, including introduction (1), study (4) and termination (1). In the study, answers to the question "Is there a difference between the depression and loneliness levels of individuals before and after animal-supported activities?" will be sought. The analysis of the data will be done using the Statictical Package for Social Science 23.0 package program. In the evaluation of the data, descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation will be used to define the sample, two-pair test or Wilcoxon peer test will be used according to the parametric test assumptions for the comparison of the group within itself, and the Chi-square test will be used for the analysis of categorical data. 95% significance level will be used to determine the differences in the analyses. The answers to the open-ended questions will be categorized by the researchers and evaluated as numbers and percentages. As a result of the study, the effect of animal-supported activities on the depression and loneliness levels of the elderly will be determined and a contribution will be made to the literature. In line with the literature and justification, this study was planned to determine the effects of animal-supported activities on depression and loneliness levels in elderly individuals living in nursing homes.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

36

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

60 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being 60 years or older
  • Do not speak Turkish
  • Continuing hospitalization in the specified institution,
  • Volunteering to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Having a barrier to communication,
  • Having a diagnosis of any mental disorder,
  • Having a physical, auditory, visual and cognitive disability that will prevent the goldfish in the aquarium from feeding (feeding) twice daily, within the scope of the study,
  • Being allergic to fish and fish food,
  • Fear of goldfish to be used in the study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
  • Allocation: NA
  • Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Animal Assisted İntervention
A total of four study interviews will be held within the scope of animal-supported activities, two days a week, from the elderly individuals in the nursing home to the participants included in the study.
Behavioral: Animal assisted activity
The interviews consist of a total of six interviews, including an introduction, four studies, and a termination. Interviews will be held individually in each person's own room in the nursing home. Materials such as plastic aquarium, fish, fish food, fish food scales that will be given to the individuals during the interviews will be taken to the institution by the researchers before and will be given to the elderly individuals in the second interview.
Other Names:
  • animal assisted therapy
  • pet therapy
  • animal assisted intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depression scale
Time Frame: "Before any intervention is made (Pre-test) (T0)" AND "Animal Assisted Activity Program- Short Form application right after it's over (Posttest) (T1)"
It was planned to be measured with the Yesavage Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-SF). The answers are "yes" or "no" depending on the sentiment at the end. A "yes" answer is given 1 point, and a "no" answer is given 0 points. A minimum of 0 and a maximum of 15 points can be obtained from the scale. 0-4 points are considered as "no depression", 5-8 points as "mild depression", 9-11 points as "moderate depression" and 12-15 points as "severe depression".
"Before any intervention is made (Pre-test) (T0)" AND "Animal Assisted Activity Program- Short Form application right after it's over (Posttest) (T1)"
Loneliness
Time Frame: "Before any intervention is made (Pre-test) (T0)" AND "Animal Assisted Activity Program- Short Form application right after it's over (Posttest) (T1)
It was planned to be measured with the Loneliness Scale for the Elderly. The lowest score to be taken from the scale is 0 and the highest score is 22. Total loneliness can be divided into four levels: Level 1; not alone / does not feel lonely (score 0-4); Level 2; acceptable loneliness (5-14 points); Level 3; very lonely (score15-18); Level 4; Very intense loneliness (score 19-22)
"Before any intervention is made (Pre-test) (T0)" AND "Animal Assisted Activity Program- Short Form application right after it's over (Posttest) (T1)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Atlas University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ANTICIPATED)

February 20, 2023

Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED)

November 17, 2023

Study Completion (ANTICIPATED)

November 17, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 27, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2023

First Posted (ACTUAL)

February 13, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

February 13, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2023

Last Verified

January 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AtlasU
  • 1919B012203442 (OTHER_GRANT: THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF TÜRKİYE)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

We can share to contribute to the literature

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Shareable for 1 year

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Researchers who want to access the study protocol can access

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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