Related Experiment Videos
Creating a therapeutic and healing environment with a pet therapy program
Amanda Bulette Coakley1, Ellen K Mahoney
1Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. abcoakley@partners.org
Background:
Hospitalized patients encounter stressors that impact their experience and recovery. There is a need for theoretically-based, empirically supported nursing interventions to create a therapeutic and healing environment that decrease stress and improve patients' experiences.
Purpose:
To determine whether pet therapy interventions improve physiological, behavioral and mood outcomes and experiences of hospitalized patients.
Methods:
A single group pre-post-quasi-experimental design with mixed methods was used in 59 hospitalized patients. Paired t-tests were used to evaluate changes from baseline following a pet therapy intervention. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis.
Results:
Compared with baseline, patients had significant decreases in pain, respiratory rate and negative mood state and a significant increase in perceived energy level. Quantitative and qualitative findings provide support for decreased tension/anxiety and fatigue/inertia and improved overall mood.
Conclusions:
Pet therapy is a low-tech, low-cost therapy that improved mood and was meaningful to hospitalized patients.
Related Concept Videos
Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
Humanistic Therapy
Group Therapy
Therapeutic Communication
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...
Elements Crucial for Effective Psychotherapy
The Therapeutic Alliance
The therapeutic alliance refers to the relationship between the therapist and the client. The alliance strengthens when the therapist and the client engage in a nurturing, supportive, trusting, empathetic, and respectful relationship, improving therapeutic outcomes. Therapists must monitor this relationship...
Psychotherapy