ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDY AND INTERVENTION

This section provides additional information regarding the volunteers and dogs that were used in the dog visitation intervention. Safety aspects considered before and during the study are also discussed.

4.7.1. Volunteers

PAT volunteers with their dogs were used in the visitation intervention. The volunteers with their dogs have all previously been involved in other PAT projects and have already visited at other residential facilities. Thus, the dogs and volunteers were all familiar with PAT conduct before the commencement of the study and it has already been assured that they meet PAT requirements. Nevertheless, I initially briefed the volunteers about the procedures of the intervention and handed each of them a document regarding the protocols of the visitation sessions (see Appendix O). The volunteers were also required to sign a document stipulating that they agree to have their dogs participate in the intervention and that they take full responsibility for the safety and transportation of their dogs during the intervention.

During the intervention and visits, volunteers acted as visitors bringing their pets along to meet and interact with participants. Volunteers were responsible for ensuring that the intervention protocols were met. This included their responsibility

to ensure that infection control protocols were followed to circumvent spread of infection and to monitor their dogs during the visits for any signs of needing to relieve themselves, discomfort, irritability, aggressiveness, stress, anxiety, and/or fatigue (Lefebvre et al., 2008). If they detected any signs of the latter in their dogs, the volunteers escorted their dogs outside the facility for a short break or, if they deemed it necessary, they terminated the visit for that day. None of the dogs displayed irritability or aggressiveness during any of the visits.

Some participants experienced physical difficulty with touching the dogs, because of physical impairments such as being in a wheelchair and/or not having full function of their arms and/or hands. Hence, volunteers took their dogs to participants and if participants gave their consent, they put their dogs on participants’ laps and helped them to caress the dogs.

4.7.2. Dogs

Visiting dogs must meet specified requirements before they are declared as suitable to be enrolled in a visitation programme. The dogs used in the present study were all suitable, according to PAT standards, to participate in visitation programmes. PAT utilises the services of Yolande Ginsberg (PAT volunteer and owner of Cape Canine, a registered therapy animal behavioural assessment agency based in

Durbanville, Cape Town) to have all their visiting animals assessed before enrolment in visitation programmes. Table 4.2 provides information as to visiting dog

requirements and the criteria that are considered during the behavioural assessment of visiting dogs.

All four the PAT volunteers as well as their dogs that were used in the intervention were female. The dogs were two large dogs (i.e., a flat coated retriever named

Sambuca and a golden retriever named Juno) and two small dogs (i.e., a miniature schnauzer named Lexi and a toy poodle named Lacy). Pictures of the dogs are provided in Appendix P.

Table 4.2

Visiting Dog Requirements A visiting dog must

 be willing to interact with and enjoy physical contact with people;

 be emotionally mature;

 have good impulse control and manners around people (i.e., the dog must not jump up on people and display no mouthing or excessive barking);

 be clean and declared healthy by a veterinarian (proof of vaccinations and deworming, along with a veterinary certificate stating that the animal is fit and healthy, is to be provided at assessment);

 be on a parasite (i.e., flea, tick, or worm) control programme;

 be comfortable with wearing a collar or harness;

 be able to walk in a calm and controlled manner on a leash;

 have good rapport with its owner (Y. Ginsberg, personal communication, March, 5, 2014).

4.7.3. Safety aspects

Only registered and approved dogs from PAT were used in the study. The dogs had already met the requirements of PAT before the study. Residents at the facility who claimed to be afraid of dogs were given the opportunity to decide whether they wanted to partake in the study. Only residents who gave their consent for participation were allowed to partake in the study.

The researcher and staff members employed at the facility were always present during visitation sessions to supervise and ensure the safety of everyone involved in the intervention (i.e., participants, PAT volunteers, and the dogs). Volunteers did not

allow their dogs to lick participants in their faces and, even though the dogs were always properly groomed for visits, participants were encouraged to wash their hands after touching the dogs. Volunteers were permitted to take their dogs outside the facility for short breaks during visits. The purpose of these breaks was to ensure that the dogs did not become too tired during visits, and become uncomfortable and irritable. The dogs were kept on their leashes the entire time during visits.

I took cognisance of the fact that participants could be exposed to some risks

through participation in the research. Possible risks of participation and preventative strategies that were incorporated to minimise the impact of or eliminate these risks, are presented in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3

Potential Risks of Participation and Preventative Strategies Potential Risk Preventative Strategy

Psychological discomfort due to the completion of measures.

Measures were carefully selected to ensure that they are suitable for use with older people and that they are as non- distressing as possible.

Experimental group participants become possessive of the dogs, which generates an

atmosphere of competition (AVMA, 2007).

Three dogs were present during visits and the dogs and volunteers rotated between participants during visits. PAT volunteers made sure that their dogs spend more or less equal amounts of time with individual participants.

Physical injuries and the risk of contracting a zoonotic infection (AVMA, 2007).

All dogs were registered PAT visiting dogs. PAT volunteers were required to adhere to a specified set of protocols (Appendix O) during visitation sessions, which aimed to eliminate physical or health risks and ensure the safety of participants throughout the visitation intervention. I (the researcher) was present during visitation sessions to ensure that the intervention protocols were implemented appropriately.

Allergic reactions towards dogs (AVMA, 2007).

A query-item asking if residents have any allergies to dogs was included in the Biographical and Pet History Survey, which residents completed at the beginning of the study. If a resident answered yes to this question, he or she was kindly denied participation. No residents indicated that they are allergic to dogs. The dogs were kept away from non-participating residents.