Research Article
Animal-assisted Therapy in Patients with Psychomotor Disorders and Mental Disabilities
Rodrigo Claverol M, Dolores, Rodrigo
Claverol Esther, Casanova Gonzalvo
Carlos, Real Gatius Jordi, Sole Pujol M
and Ortega Bravo Marta*
Correspondence Address :
Orteg Bravo Marta
Catalan Institute of Health Lleida
Spain
Email:
mortega.lleida.ics@gencat.cat
Received on: : April10, 2017 , Accepted on: April 25, 2017 , Published on: May 02, 2017
Citation: Orteg Bravo Marta, Rodrigo Claverol MDolores, Rodrigo Claverol Esther,Casanova Gonzalvo Carlos,Real Gatius Jordi, and Sole Pujol M, (2017). Animal-assisted Therapy in Patients with Psychomotor Disorders and Mental Disabilities
Copyright: 2017 Orteg Bravo Marta, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Mental disabilities are associated with communication and socialization difficulties, as well as psychomotor disorders which increase the risk of falls and complicate everyday activities. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a complementary therapeutic technique in which the animal adopts the role of motivator and facilitator. The objectives of this study were to assess the effectiveness of an AAT program in patients with mental disabilities and psychomotor disorders and measure improvements in gait, balance and activity as well as the degree of satisfaction with physiotherapy sessions. This study was a randomized clinical trial, with all subjects obtained through the Occupational Therapy Department of the ASPROS Foundation. We observed improvement in both the intervention and control groups, although this improvement was greater (a statistically significant difference) in the intervention group with regard to balance and satisfaction. Therefore it is a resource that has shown its usefulness and novelty as a community intervention performed by professionals in a Primary Care Center.
Keywords: Animal-assisted therapy; Intellectual disability; Psychomotor problems; Primary health care