Abstract
Research indicates, pets influence the social, psychological, and physical health of the elderly population by lowering stressors associated with decreased social engagement and activity. The presence of pets also seems to alleviate elderly morbidity and mortality rates. Current studies have focused on the psychological and physical effects of pet therapy over time or induced acute stressors in the presence or absence of pet therapy. These studies indicate good outcomes but have small sample sizes and rarely investigate how short-term pet therapy might affect elderly health.
Our main goals in this study were to:
1) determine whether or not short-term pet therapy reduces blood pressure in the elderly (>65 years old);
2) lay the foundations for a large database.
We hypothesized that a 15-minute pet therapy encounter would reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the participants. We collected data from two groups by manually measuring blood pressure (BP) before and after each encounter. Both groups consisted of a 15-minute in-person visit with either pet therapy (experimental) or no pet therapy (control). Preliminary results showed visits with pet therapy decreased systole (3.44%) and diastole (4.76%). Without pet therapy, systole decreased by 0.23% and diastole increased by 3.11%. Human error within this project includes manually measuring BP and mistiming encounters (will fix with a stopwatch). Instrumental errors likely result from utilizing two separate BP devices. Moving forward, we hope to include both males and females along with Native American participants.
Our main goals in this study were to:
1) determine whether or not short-term pet therapy reduces blood pressure in the elderly (>65 years old);
2) lay the foundations for a large database.
We hypothesized that a 15-minute pet therapy encounter would reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the participants. We collected data from two groups by manually measuring blood pressure (BP) before and after each encounter. Both groups consisted of a 15-minute in-person visit with either pet therapy (experimental) or no pet therapy (control). Preliminary results showed visits with pet therapy decreased systole (3.44%) and diastole (4.76%). Without pet therapy, systole decreased by 0.23% and diastole increased by 3.11%. Human error within this project includes manually measuring BP and mistiming encounters (will fix with a stopwatch). Instrumental errors likely result from utilizing two separate BP devices. Moving forward, we hope to include both males and females along with Native American participants.
Original language | American English |
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Pages | 122 |
State | Published - 18 Feb 2022 |
Event | Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Research Week 2022 : Poster Presentation - Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, United States Duration: 14 Feb 2022 → 18 Feb 2022 https://medicine.okstate.edu/research/docs/rw2022_agenda.pdf (Research Week 2022 Agenda) |
Conference
Conference | Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Research Week 2022 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Tulsa |
Period | 14/02/22 → 18/02/22 |
Internet address |
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Keywords
- Pet therapy
- blood pressure
- elderly