Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

The Diabetes Educator

SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Western Journal of Nursing Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kaiser, L.
Right arrow Articles by Keilman, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kaiser, L.
Right arrow Articles by Keilman, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

A Dog and a "Happy Person" Visit Nursing Home Residents

Lana Kaiser

College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Linda J. Spence

College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Lily McGavin

College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Laura Struble

College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Linda Keilman

College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Recent recognition of the importance of the human-animal bond has led to the proliferation of programs designed to improve the lives of nursing home residents through the use of animals. Because human-human interaction in the nursing home setting is often of an obligatory nature, we wondered if a visit from a nonjudgmental, outgoing, enthusiastic young adult ("a happy person") could elicit the same positive influence as a visit from a nonjudgmental dog. The purpose of this study was to determine if elderly residents of a midwestern nursing home had a preference for the type of visitor (dog vs. person) when both visits were nonobligatory and nonjudgmental. Behaviors were evaluated to determine if one visitor was more likely to influence prosocial behaviors (moving closer, patting, smiling). Six residents were visited by both the dog and the happy person; 5 of 6 completed the final interview. Residents were equally likely to smile at and move closer to both visitors. Residents were more likelyto pat the dog. Three residents liked both visits equally; 1 preferred the dog, and 1 preferred the happy person. These data suggest that nonobligatoryvisits to nursing home residents from a happy person maybe as beneficial to the resident as visits from a dog.

Western Journal of Nursing Research, Vol. 24, No. 6, 671-683 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/019394502320555412
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?