The effectiveness of group combined intervention usinganimal-assisted therapy and integrated elderly play therapy

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of group combinedintervention that combined animal-assisted therapy and integrated elderly playtherapy on the depression, self-esteem, and emotional expression of geriatricpatients residing in nursing homes. This was achieved by providing cognitive,physical, and emotional activities and social interaction at the same time. Thegroup combined intervention method was applied to twelve elderly patients (sixin the control group, six in the experimental group) aged 65 or older who livein a nursing home for the elderly in C province, from May 3, 2019 to June 21,2019, for a total of 8 times (once a week, 50 minutes at a time). Thequantitative evaluation was analyzed through SPSS 21.0 for comparison before andafter the program was implemented, using the Korean version of the depressionand the self-esteem scale. The qualitative evaluation compared emotionalexpression pre-test and post-test. The major results of the study were asfollows: First, the group combined intervention was effective in reducingdepression levels of the experimental group among the elderly patients. Second,it was effective in improving the self-esteem of the experimental group amongthe elderly patients. Third, it showed a significant difference in the emotionalexpression of the experimental group among the elderly patients. Therefore, itwas found that group combined intervention reduces depression and improvesself-esteem and emotional expression of the elderly. Based on these results, itis hoped that this study will be a cornerstone in the development of concreteprograms for the benefit of elderly patients living in facilities.