EFFECTS OF COMPANION ANIMAL VISITATION ON MOOD STATE AND LEVEL OF SPEECH ACTIVITY OF NURSING HOME RESIDENTS.
Contributors: California School Of Professional Psychology - San Diego.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 130
Subjects: Psychology, General.; Health Sciences, General.; Gerontology.
Description: This study investigates the effect of a trained dog on self-reported mood and level of speech activity of elderly nursing home residents. Eighty nursing home residents who reported the absence of fear/dislike of dogs participated in the study.

Subjects were administered the Canine Attitude Scale, and randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: a 6-10 minute interaction with a visitor and dog, a 6-10 minute interaction with a visitor and novel stimulus (stuffed animal), a 6-10 minute interaction with a visitor alone, or a no treatment control condition. Each subject was visited on three occasions, and an abbreviated version of Mood Scales-Elderly was administered before and after each visit. In all conditions except the no treatment control condition, the visitors followed a structured script, and the sessions were audiotaped. All subjects participated in an audiotaped interview with the researcher following the third session.

The first hypothesis examined the effect of each type of visit on self-reported improvement in mood within and across sessions. The present study found no significant differences among treatment conditions. Subjects in all three visiting conditions exhibited significant mood improvement.

The second hypothesis examined the effect of the visiting conditions on subjects' level of speech activity within and across sessions. Analyses of speech activity data revealed no significant differences among groups.

The third hypothesis examined the effect of the treatment condition on subjects' level of speech activity in an interview subsequent to the final session. No significant differences were found among groups.

The fourth hypothesis focused on subjects in the dog condition only, and investigated the relationship between attitude toward pets and self-reported improvement in mood, as well as level of and increase in speech activity. No significant correlations were found between variables.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-02, Section: B, page: 1095.

Thesis (PH.D.)--CALIFORNIA SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY - SAN DIEGO, 1994.

School code: 0379.