Dataset Information

Dog-assisted interventions for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders experience insufficient symptom relief from currently available treatment options. Researching additional venues should be prioritized. This systematic review, designed in accordance with PRISMA, examined the effect of targeted and structured dog-assisted interventions as a supplementary treatment.

Methods

Randomized as well as non-randomized studies were included. Systematic searches were conducted in APA PsycInfo, AMED, CENTRAL, Cinahl, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, and in several sources covering "gray" (unpublished) literature. In addition, forward and backward citation searches were performed. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Quality of evidence and risk of bias were assessed in accordance with GRADE and RoB2/ROBINS-I criteria.

Results

12 publications from 11 different studies met eligibility criteria. Overall, studies showed diverging results. General psychopathology, positive and negative symptoms of psychosis, anxiety, stress, self-esteem, self-determination, lower body strength, social function, and quality of life were among the outcome measures with significant improvement. Most documentation for significant improvement was found for positive symptoms. One study indicated significant deterioration of non-personal social behavior. The risk of bias was high or serious for most of the outcome measures. Three outcome measures were associated with some concerns regarding risk of bias, and three with low risk of bias. Quality of evidence was graded low or very low for all outcome measures.

Conclusions

The included studies indicate potential effects of dog-assisted interventions for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders, mostly beneficial. Nevertheless, low number of participants, heterogeneity, and risk of bias complicate the interpretation of results. Carefully designed randomized controlled trials are needed to determine causality between interventions and treatment effects.

SUBMITTER: Tyssedal MK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10326428 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Dog-assisted interventions for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders: a systematic review.

Tyssedal Malene Kalsnes MK Johnsen Erik E Brønstad Aurora A Skrede Silje S

Frontiers in psychiatry 20230623

<h4>Background</h4>Many individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders experience insufficient symptom relief from currently available treatment options. Researching additional venues should be prioritized. This systematic review, designed in accordance with PRISMA, examined the effect of targeted and structured dog-assisted interventions as a supplementary treatment.<h4>Methods</h4>Randomized as well as non-randomized studies were included. Systematic searches were conducted in ...[more]

PMID: 37426092

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAlthough previous reviews suggest a strong association between abuse and eating disorders, less is known about non-abuse adverse life experiences, such as parental mental illness or family discord, which occur frequently for this population. The aim of the current study was to identify family-related non-abuse adverse life experiences occurring for adults with eating disorders, and to establish whether they occur for people with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge-eating disorder more than the general population and other psychiatric populations.MethodA systematic review of studies focusing on family-related non-abuse adverse life experiences and eating disorders was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. The search string was applied to four electronic databases including Psycinfo, PubMed/Medline, CINAHL Plus and EMBASE.ResultsOf the 26 studies selected for inclusion, six types of family-related non-abuse adverse life experiences were identified: adverse parenting style; family disharmony; loss of a family member, relative or close person; familial mental health issues; family comments about eating, or shape, weight and appearance; and family disruptions. Findings provided tentative evidence for eating disorder specific (i.e. parental demands and criticism) and non-specific (i.e. familial loss and family disruptions) non-abuse adversities, with findings also suggesting that those with bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder were more impacted by loss, family separations and negative parent-child interactions compared to those with anorexia nervosa.ConclusionsThis review provides a clear synthesis of previous findings relating to family-related non-abuse adverse life experiences and eating disorders in adults. Implications for trauma-informed care in clinical practice were discussed (e.g. considering the impact of past life events, understanding the function of ED behaviours, reducing the risk of potential re-traumatisation).

Project description:BACKGROUND:Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) is a non-pharmacological intervention based on the interaction between patients and dogs, which has been proposed to help adults with dementia. However, evidence to support it is lacking. Thus, we aim to evaluate the effects of DAT on this population and to assess the certainty of the evidence of the RCTs estimates. METHODS:A systematic search was performed. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental (QE) controlled studies published up to March 2018, which evaluated the beneficial and deleterious effects of DAT in adults with dementia. Mean differences (MD) or standardized mean differences (SMD) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated and random effects meta-analyses were performed. Certainty of evidence was assessed for RCTs estimates using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. The study protocol has been registered in PROSPERO (CRD42018090434). RESULTS:Ten studies (six RCTs and four QE controlled studies) were eligible for inclusion. Meta-analysis of RCTs showed no effect of DAT in daily life activities (SMD: 0.16; 95% CI: -0.80 to 1.12), depression (SMD: -0.45; 95% CI: -2.81 to 1.91), agitation (SDM: -1.12; 95% CI: -2.67 to 0.43), quality of life (SDM: 0.16; 95% CI: -0.41 to 0.73), and cognitive impairment (SDM: -0.52; 95% CI: -1.33 to 0.30), but it found a beneficial effect in apathy (1 study, n = 37, MD: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.26 to 2.36). All outcomes had a very low certainty of evidence according to GRADE methodology. CONCLUSIONS:RCTs evidence of very low certainty suggests that, in adults with dementia, DAT has no effect in daily life activities, depression, agitation, quality of life, and cognitive impairment, although one small study found an apparent beneficial effect in apathy. More well-designed and correctly reported studies are needed in order to provide a conclusion. TRIAL REGISTRATION:CRD42018090434 (PROSPERO).

Dataset Information

Dog-assisted interventions for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders: a systematic review.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Dog-assisted interventions for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders: a systematic review.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets