Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Gait Performance, Respiratory Function, and Psychological Variables in Patients Post-Stroke
Ho‐Jung An, Shin-Jun Park
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Animal-assisted therapy using dogs is being administered to patients post-stroke for the purpose of recovering psychological and physical activity. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to confirm the effect of animal-assisted therapy using dogs on gait performance, pulmonary function, and psychological variables in patients post-stroke. All outcomes were analyzed using two-way repeated-measure analysis. METHODS: 15). Gait performance (cadence, gait speed, stride length, symmetric index), respiratory pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), peak expiratory flow (PEF), maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), maximal expiratory pressure (MEP)), and psychological variables (rehabilitation motivation and depression assessment) were measured before and after eight weeks of intervention. RESULTS: Gait performance, respiratory pulmonary function, and psychological variables significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Based on this study, it was found that animal-assisted therapy using dogs is an effective intervention for recovery of psychological and physical activity in patients post-stroke.