Authors: (including presenting author): :
Lee TK(1), Lee PY(2), Chan KS(3), Wong CK(4)
Affiliation: :
(1)Department of Psychiatry, Tai Po Hospital, (2)Department of Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, Tai Po Hospital, (3)Department of Medicine, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, (4)Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Tai Po Hospital
Introduction: :
Could doll therapy reduce agitation and anxiety among inpatients with dementia? Does gender or engagement level make a difference? Doll therapy, is a non-pharmacological intervention involves giving a doll to an individual with dementia to care for, to induce feeling of secure and calm by fulfilling attachment needs. Overseas evidence promoted the intervention’s value but there is limited evidence in HK. This paper aims to report the quantitative findings of a mixed-method research for doll therapy.
Objectives: :
1)Evaluate doll therapy’s effectiveness to reduce agitation and anxiety among inpatients with dementia. 2)Identify correlation between engagement with doll (talking, touching) and therapy’s effectiveness. 3)Examine if gender predicts different engagement level with dolls.
Methodology: :
‘One-group pretest-posttest’design and convenience sampling was adopted. There were 12 study-wards from Department of Medicine (MED) in AHNH; Departments of Medicine and Geriatrics (M&G), Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (DOR) and Psychiatry (PSY) in TPH. Data was collected from 14/1/19 to 4/12/20. Doll therapy was implemented by giving a doll to a subject to care for, once he/she agreed and next-of-kin consented (2 to 7-day intervention depended on length of stay). Pre-tests and post-tests were done by Pittsburgh Agitation Scale (PAS) and Rating Anxiety in Dementia (RAID). Engagement level was quantified by 24-hour behavioral observation chart.
Result & Outcome: :
Thirty-six subjects with dementia, aged 61-100 were recruited, 12 were male and 24 were female; 4 from MED, 8 from M&G, 14 from DOR, and 10 from PSY. Mann-Whitney U test showed significant reduction in subjects’ median total scores of PAS (Median = 6 vs 2, U =252.0, Z = -2.475, p = 0.013) and RAID (Median = 8 vs 6, U = 433.0, Z = -2.433, p = 0.015). No correlation was found between the engagement level and total score of PAS (rs = -0.236, p = 0.167), nor RAID (rs = -0.278, p = 0.101). Besides, gender did not predict different engagement level as no significant regression equation was found (F(1, 34) = 0.884, p = 0.354, R2 = 0.025). This study proved doll therapy can reduce agitation and anxiety among inpatients with dementia. Observable engagement to dolls like talking and touching seems not a must to the therapy’s effect. Gender is not a predictive factor for patients’ engagement to dolls. Application in hospital setting is highly recommended.
