Efectos de la terapia asistida con animales en personas con daño cerebral o lesión medular

  1. Adriana Ávila Álvarez
  2. Gabriel Torres
  3. Octavio Villazala Roca
  4. Ana López-Cortón Facal
  5. Inés Viana Moldes
  6. Miguel Á. Saavedra-García
  7. L. Larrañeta Alcalde
  8. L. Pérez Taboada
Journal:
Trauma

ISSN: 1888-6116

Year of publication: 2013

Volume: 24

Issue: 2

Pages: 109-116

Type: Article

More publications in: Trauma

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of animal assisted therapy (AAT) in a brain damaged or spinal injury population. Material and method: A prospective longitudinal study was undertaken on 30 patients with diagnosis of brain da- mage or spinal injury selected under non probabilistic accidental sampling, five groups were made according to patients age. A total of 23 sessions of AAT, 90 minutes long, were performed. Study period was 16 months, with therapy taking place in the first nine months. Three patients were lost in the follow up. Evaluation was performed using LOTCA cognitive battery test, Barthel index and COPM scale. Results: All patients showed improvement or no change according to initial evaluation. COPM evaluation were 8,42±2,59 for importance, 8,17±2,41 for performance, and 8,96±2,07 for satisfaction. Evaluation ranges from 1 to 10. Improvement was found in 33% of the patients for cognitive evaluation, and in 37% for functional inde- pendence evaluation showed improvement in most of the patients. Conclusion: AAT can be useful as non-pharmacological therapy in the rehabilitation process of neurological affected