Effect of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) on Social Interaction and Quality of Life in Patients with Schizophrenia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Experimental Study.
Chieh-An Shih, Man-Hua Yang
PMID 36646276WHAT IT FOUND
In 90 residents with chronic schizophrenia, staff-led dog-assisted group activities had higher quality-of-life scores than staff-led discussion groups at 3 months.
Staff-rated social function improved in both groups but did not last in the dog group.
Key findings
01The dog-assisted group's quality-of-life scores rose from 79.33 before 12 weekly sessions to 86.42 after them and 86.64 at 3 months, and were higher than the control group's scores at both later points.
02Staff-rated social function scores improved immediately after the intervention in both groups, but the dog-assisted group's score fell to 46.07 at 3 months, below its baseline of 50.56, although the paper reported the within-group change was not significant.
03Social adaptive function scores improved in both groups after the intervention, but the dog-assisted group did not improve more than controls at either follow-up.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Randomisation was by institution, not by individual participant, and only six institutions were used, so institutional differences could have affected the results. The groups were not identical at baseline: the dog-assisted group had more family visits, although adding this variable to the analysis did not produce a significant difference. Social functioning and adaptive function were rated by institutional staff, not by patients or an independent assessor, and staff perceptions may differ. Both groups had weekly staff-led group contact, and the control group also watched animal films, so the effect of dogs alone cannot be separated from staff attention, group activity or animal-related media. The 3-month follow-up occurred during COVID-19 restrictions, including no family visits and reduced outdoor time in two dog-assisted institutions, which may have lowered social function scores. The study included only residents aged 20 to 65 years who could use Mandarin or Taiwanese, lived in psychiatric rehabilitation institutions in northern Taiwan, and had no dog allergy or fear, so results may not apply to other settings or patients. Participants and institution personnel were blinded, but the paper does not report blinding of the researchers and social workers who delivered the activities.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Taiwan Nurses Association. The authors declared no commercial or associative conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that dogs alone improve social interaction or quality of life in schizophrenia. Both groups received weekly staff-led group contact, the control group also watched animal films, and the dog-assisted group included service dogs, animal-assisted therapy therapists, researchers and social workers, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The staff-rated social function benefit also did not persist at 3 months.