Kil Taeyoung, Yoon Kyeong-A, Ryu Hansu, Kim Minkyu
Institute of Agricultural Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea.
Department of Social Welfair, Daejeon University, Daejeon 34520, Korea.
J Anim Sci Technol. 2019 Nov;61(6):379-387. doi: 10.5187/jast.2019.61.6.379. Epub 2019 Nov 30.
The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of a group integrated intervention program that simultaneously conducts cognitive activities, physical activities, emotional activities and social interactions by integrating animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and integrated elderly play therapy based on the cognitive functions and depression of the elderly who live alone. This study follows a pre-test post-test design with a nonequivalent control group, to verify the effectiveness of a group integrated intervention. It applies a group integrated intervention program to 20 elderly people who live alone, aged 65 and above (10 in the experimental group, 10 in the control group), once a week for 90 minutes across eight weeks. The study went through MMSE-K, TMT-A and GDSSF-A to assess cognitive functions and the level of depression. The group integrated intervention increased the cognitive functions of the experimental group and decreased levels of depression. Therefore, this study verified that a group integrated intervention program of AAT and integrated play therapy of the elderly, is an effective for increasing cognitive functions and decreasing depression levels of the elderly who live alone. Based on these findings, the study suggests that there is a need to continuously expand group integrated intervention programs and provide relevant political support.
本研究的目的是，基于独居老年人的认知功能和抑郁状况，通过整合动物辅助疗法（AAT）和综合老年游戏疗法，确定同时开展认知活动、体育活动、情感活动和社交互动的团体综合干预项目的效果。本研究采用非等效对照组的前测后测设计，以验证团体综合干预的有效性。它将团体综合干预项目应用于20名65岁及以上的独居老年人（实验组10人，对照组10人），为期八周，每周一次，每次90分钟。该研究通过MMSE-K、TMT-A和GDSSF-A来评估认知功能和抑郁水平。团体综合干预提高了实验组的认知功能，降低了抑郁水平。因此，本研究证实，AAT与老年综合游戏疗法的团体综合干预项目，对于提高独居老年人的认知功能和降低抑郁水平是有效的。基于这些发现，该研究表明有必要持续扩大团体综合干预项目，并提供相关政策支持。
