Bakgrund: De allra flesta äldre personer med demens drabbas någon gång under sin sjukdomstid av beteendemässiga eller psykiska symtom vilket kan innebära ett stort lidande för personen i fråga. Studier har visat att kontakt med hundar kan minska dessa symtom. Idag utbildas vårdhundar i Sverige för att exempelvis arbeta med personer med demenssjukdom. Syfte: Syftet är att belysa omvårdnadspersonalens erfarenhet av insatser med vårdhund för äldre personer med demens. Metod: Studien hade en kvalitativ ansats. Tretton individuella och semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med omvårdnadspersonal på fyra särskilda boenden i södra Sverige. En av dessa intervjuer exkluderades och ingick inte i resultatet. Kvalitativ innehållsanalys användes för att analysera materialet. Resultat: I analysen framkom fyra kategorier, att vårdhunden skapar glädje och harmoni, framkallar en positiv stämning som varar, väcker positiva minnen och färdigheter till liv samt skapar kontakt och närhet. Slutsats: Studien indikerar att då äldre personer med demens drabbas av beteendemässiga eller psykiska symtom kan vårdhunden öka välbefinnandet genom att skapa glädje, harmoni och närhet samt genom att få personen att minnas. Mer forskning behövs för att nå en ökad kunskap om vårdhundens betydelse för äldre personer med demens. / Background: Most elderly people who lives with dementia, suffer in some point during the time of their disease from behavioural and psychological symptoms, which could mean much suffering for the person in question. Studies have shown that contact with dogs can decrease these symptoms. In Sweden today, dogs are trained to work with persons who suffers from dementia. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to illuminate nursing staff´s experience of working with dog- assisted therapy and elderly persons who suffer from dementia. Method: The study had a qualitative approach. Thirteen individual semistructured interviews with nursing staff were performed at four nursing homes in southern Sweden. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the material. Result: In the analysis four categories emerged, dog-assisted therapy creates joy and harmony, evokes a positive lasting atmosphere, bring back positive memories and skills and also creates contact and closeness. Conclusion: The study indicates that, when elderly people with dementia suffers from behavioural and psychological symptoms, dog- assisted therapy can increase their well- being, by creating joy, harmony and closeness and by making the person remember. More research is needed to reach an increased knowledge about the meaning of dog-assisted therapy for elderly people with dementia.

No description available.

This study was concerned with reducing children's anticipatory anxiety when entering mental health services for the first time. The purpose of this study was to determine whether combining two effective modalities, play therapy and animal-assisted therapy, would be effective in decreasing children's biobehavioral measurements of anxiety. Specifically, this study examined the effects of the presence of a trained therapy dog during one individual 30-minute play therapy session. The experimental group consisted of 26 children who received one individual 30-minute play therapy session with the presence of a trained therapy dog. The comparison group consisted of 25 children who received one individual 30-minute play therapy session without the presence of a trained therapy dog. The SenseWear® PRO 2 armband monitor measured children's biobehavioral measurements such as galvanic skin response, temperature, and activity level (BodyMedia, Inc., Pittsburgh , PA , www.bodymedia.com). The Tanita 6102 Cardio® digital heart rate monitor measured children's pre-treatment and post-treatment heart rates (Tanita Corporation of America, Inc., Arlington Heights , IL , www.tanita.com). Five hypotheses were tested using repeated measures ANOVA with mixed factors and eta squared. All five hypotheses in this study were retained based on statistical significance at the .05 level. The combination of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) and animal-assisted therapy was shown to have little practical significance in decreasing children's first 5-minute biobehavioral measurements, middle 5-minute biobehavioral measurements, last 5-minute biobehavioral measurements as measured by the SenseWear Pro 2 armband monitor. The combination of CCPT and animal-assisted therapy was shown to have little practical significance in decreasing children's pre-treatment and post-treatment heart rate. The results of the two factor repeated measures analysis of variance with mixed factors were not statistically significant. Although, research has shown that play therapy is an effective modality in reducing children's anxiety over time, children's anticipatory anxiety was increased in the first 30-minutes of play therapy with or without the presence of a trained therapy dog. Anticipatory anxiety may have been due to the children experiencing a novel and unfamiliar situation, entering the play therapy room with a stranger, the non-structured environment of the play therapy room, or a first interaction with the armband monitor.

Mental illnesses, especially depression, are a global problem that require new treatment options to those whose symptoms are resistant to the current ones. Psilocybin, which is a naturally occurring drug in mushrooms, has become a potential candidate. It affects the brain by deactivating certain areas, causing not only changes in perception and consciousness but antidepressive responses as well, thereby improving well-being. Previous studies have looked at psilocybin and how it affects the brain, and also shown that short trials with psilocybin can cause long-lasting improvement. Here, I conducted an analysis including nine experimental articles that had studied psilocybin’s effects on depressive symptoms. Results confirm that psilocybin does decrease depressive symptoms, even long-lastingly, while only transient mild side effects being fairly common. Some conclusions could also be drawn of which types of patients will benefit of psilocybin treatment most likely. Future research with bigger sample sizes is needed, as well as more focus on identifying the ideal settings and patients of psilocybin-assisted therapy. / Mental ohälsa och särskilt depression är globala problem. Nya behandlingsalternativ behövs för de som inte får hjälp av nuvarande behandlingar. Psilocybin är ett ämne som finns i så kallade magiska svampar och har blivit en potentiell kandidat. Psilocybin påverkar hjärnan genom att inaktivera vissa delar, vilket leder till förändringar i perception, medvetandet och antidepressiva responser bland annat. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på hur psilocybin påverkar hjärnan samt visat att även kortvarig behandling med psilocybin kan framkalla en långvarig förbättring av hur man mår. Denna analys inkluderar nio experiementella studier om psilocybins effekter på depressiva symtom. Resultatet visar att psilocybin minskar depressiva symptom, även långvarigt. Endast kortvariga milda bieffekter var rapporterade. Framtida forskning bör ha ett större antal av deltagare samt fokusera på att identifiera idealgruppen för denna typ av behandling.

Posttrauamtic stress disorder can be devastating to those affected by it. Many times it can limit the affected person in his/her daily routins. Equine asssited therapy is an up rising treatment but still there are not enough evidence based research or studies that can confirm its efficacy. There are a lot of different programs with Equine therapy for people with PTSD in the US but it is also used as treatment for other forms of mental illness. The purpose of this litterature study was to obtain knowledge about how efficient Equine therapy as a treatment is for people with PTSD and PTSD related symptoms as a treatment and anxiety. The method to this study is a litterature study that I based on 9 articles. The result showed that Equine therapy may be efficient for peopple with PTSD although some studies were not able to connect scientifically the evidence that the equine therapy in itself was the reason for deacrasing symptoms in PTSD. The conclusion is that after looking in to the studys is that we need more research in the area.

This is a qualitative study based on interviews held with three professionals working in the field of Animal Assisted therapy. The study looks at the effect of Animal Assisted therapy in work with people experiencing different issues or health problems, mainly children and young adults. The purpose has been to get an understanding of the work and the different relations that occur in sessions using animals and how the participation of an animal in the session can be beneficial in the healing process. The results have been related to previous research and analysed using the Attachment theory and the Self-Determination Theory.Animals are known for spreading calmness and help with self-esteem, things that can be very useful in work with humans. The animals become a bridge to create a relationship and a trust between caregiver and client which leads to faster being able to get started with the therapeutic work. In the field of social work the caregiver will come in contact with people with all different sorts of history and need for help and support. This study shows positive effects of Animal Assisted therapy in multiple different settings and target groups. This should be reason enough for the method to be a solid part of the social work practice. Despite this, the method is not as established as the caregivers in the field would have wished. They all report seeing great advantages in using animals in their work and a high recovery rate with their clients. This is also seen in the studies made in the field.

Le syndrome de parésie spastique consécutif à un accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC) comprend plusieurs composantes dont la rétraction musculaire, la parésie sensible à l’étirement et l’hyperactivité musculaire, trois symptômes concourant à une altération de la fonction motrice du membre supérieur dans l’hémiparésie. Les progrès d’un patient atteint par ce syndrome peuvent reposer sur deux types de plasticité cérébrale : post-lésionnelle et liée à l’activité. Les maîtres-mots pour optimiser une récupération motrice par la plasticité liée à l’activité sont : intensité, répétition, effort, attention portée au mouvement, tâche dirigée vers un but et mouvement actif. Au regard des différentes techniques de rééducation, la thérapie utilisant un dispositif robotisé répond à ces principes stimulateurs de la plasticité cérébrale liée à l’activité. Cependant les modalités exactes de l’intervention robotisée et sa durée souhaitable n’ont pas été clarifiées.Une première étude rétrospective a montré que les bénéfices cliniques et cinématiques associés à l’utilisation combinée de l’ergothérapie conventionnelle et de la robot-thérapie sur au moins trois mois suggèrent l’intérêt d’une durée de traitement longue chez des patients aux limitations modérées en phase tardive de la période subaiguë. Une deuxième étude rétrospective suggère qu’à quatre ans, l’évolution lente de la fonction motrice pour ces mêmes patients semble fonction de la sévérité initiale, où finalement les moins bons régressent et les meilleurs s’améliorent un peu. Enfin, une étude prospective randomisée contrôlée en phase subaiguë a démontré que l’entraînement de mouvements sur robot sans assistance améliore l’amplitude active d’extension du coude plus que le même entraînement avec assistance au besoin, qui pourtant a permis au patient d’effectuer environ un tiers de mouvements en plus par séance. Aussi, le facteur difficulté de l’effort prévaudrait sur celui du nombre de répétitions pour stimuler la plasticité cérébrale. Ce dernier principe ne s’exprime cependant que sur le mouvement élémentaire qui est directement entraîné par le robot, en l’occurrence l’extension du coude, tandis que d’autres mouvements fondamentaux dans l’utilisation du bras humain, par exemple la flexion de l’épaule en charge, l’extension du poignet et la préhension digitale, ne sont pas exercés avec la plupart des versions actuelles des robots d’assistance à la rééducation. L’autre limite majeure de la thérapie assistée par un dispositif robotisé est qu’elle ignore la maladie musculaire présentée par les patients (rétractions), ne s’adressant qu’à la composante neurologique de la parésie spastique (parésie de l’agoniste et cocontraction de l’antagoniste). C’est ainsi que malgré le grand nombre de répétitions de mouvements qu’elle permet, nous n’avons pas constaté que la thérapie assistée par un robot se montrait plus efficace que la thérapie conventionnelle seule sur la progression de la fonction globale du membre supérieur en phase subaiguë après un AVC.Les données issues de ce travail devraient permettre aux thérapeutes ayant accès à des dispositifs robotisés d’aide à la rééducation du membre supérieur d’affiner les modalités et la durée de leur prise en charge. L’association de la thérapie assistée par robots à d’autres thérapies pourrait permettre d’optimiser la réduction des troubles moteurs dans l’hémiparésie après un AVC. / Following stroke, the syndrome of deforming spastic paresis includes several components in which three main symptoms, soft tissue contracture, stretch-sensitive paresis and spastic muscle overactivity, impede motor function. Patient progress may utilize two types of brain plasticity: lesion-induced and behavior-induced. The key notions to optimize motor recovery through behavior-induced plasticity are: repetition, effort, attention to movement, goal-directed task and active movement. Robot-assisted therapy fulfills all these conditions. However, the exact modalities of use and optimal duration are yet to be defined.From a first retrospective study, the magnitude of the clinical and kinematic benefits associated with the combined use of robot-assisted and conventional occupational therapies during three months suggest the value of a long duration treatment in the late subacute phase for moderately impaired hemiparetic patients. A second retrospective study observed the four-year long-term evolution of motor function for these patients, which appears to be related to the baseline severity, in which the more severely affected deteriorate and the less severe patients improve a little. Finally, a prospective randomized controlled study demonstrated that non-assisted movement training was associated with greater active elbow extension improvement than training with the assist-as-needed modality even though the latter offered the patient 33% movements more in each session. Therefore, the difficulty of effort appears to be a more effective factor of brain plasticity than the number of movement repetitions. This principle has however been demonstrated only for the primary movement directly trained by the robot, that is, elbow extension. The other movements that are essential in human upper limb use, such as shoulder flexion, wrist extension, gross and fine digit prehension, are not trained with the most current versions of robots used in upper limb rehabilitation. In addition, another important limitation of robot-assisted therapy is that it ignores the muscle disorder (antagonist shortening) of spastic paresis by focusing only on the neural disorder component (paresis in agonists and cocontraction in antagonists). Despite the high number of movement repetitions in robot-assisted therapy, our prospective study has not been able to show superiority of robot-assisted therapy over conventional occupational therapy in improving overall upper limb motor function in the subacute phase after stroke.The findings of this work should help therapists with access to robotic devices to refine the modalities and duration of their use in patient care. Combining robot-assisted therapy with other therapies might optimize the reduction of motor disorder in hemiparesis following stroke.

The purpose of this study was to explore the various animal assisted interventions mental health professionals incorporate in the therapeutic treatment process, as well as the various therapeutic purposes intended with each technique. Participants were recruited from animal assisted therapy related databases. Participants included professionals who practiced in the mental health field. Thirty one participants qualified for the study. A survey was developed based on information found reviewing literature related to animal assisted therapy. Nineteen animal assisted therapy techniques and ten therapeutic intentions were identified from a review of the literature. Participants were asked to rate on a Likert scale how often they incorporated each technique in their treatment process. Additionally, participants were asked to identify which therapeutic purposes they intended with each technique. Results indicated participants incorporated a variety of animal assisted techniques for various therapeutic intentions. Results indicated seven animal assisted techniques were incorporated by more than 50% of the participants. Building rapport in the therapeutic relationship was the most common therapeutic intention reported with a variety of animal assisted techniques.

Background: The elderly population is a vulnerable group, it is the nurse's responsibility to promote health and meet the nursing needs that arise. Health-related benefits for animal owners have been known since the ninth century and today animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are an accepted concept in health care. Aim: The aim is to describe the effect AAI hason the elderly in elderly care. Method: This is a general literature review. A thematic analysis has been used to compile the results from previous research. 14 articles from the databases CINAHL, Pubmed and Medline were selected for the result. 3 themes and 8 subthemes were identified: Quality of life with subthemes "Quality of life according to QUALID", "Socialinteraction", "Well-being" and "Sense of coherence", Symptom relief with subthemes "Mentalillness" and "Cognitive ability" and Physical health with subthemes "Physical activity” and “Appetite”. Results: AAI results in increased social interactions, reduction of depression, increased appetite and physical activity, improved cognition, increased well-being, sense of coherence and an improved quality of life (QoL). Conclusions: AAI can improve the health and QoL of the elderly in elderly care, especially for those with dementia. AAI can potentially reduce the use of drugs among the elderly. Further research in the field is needed to strengthen results found in several of the articles and to map the duration of the effects.

No description available.