Zoo Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease with Real-Time Speech Instruction and Neurofeedback System

There is an increasing number of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Negative emotions are not only one of the symptoms of AD, but also the accelerator of the disease. Animal therapy can have a positive impact on the negative emotions of patients, but it has strict requirements for both environments and animals. In this study, we aim to explore the effectiveness of using virtual animals and their impact on the reduction of patients’ negative emotions to improve the user’s cognitive functions. This approach has been implemented in the Zoo Therapy project, which presents an immersive 3D virtual reality animal environment, where the impact on the patient’s emotion is measured in real-time by using electroencephalography (EEG). In addition to creating highly realistic virtual animals, the innovation of Zoo Therapy is also in its communication mechanism as it implements bidirectional human-computer interaction supported by 3 interaction methods: 3D buttons, speech instruction, and Neurofeedback. Patients can actively interact with virtual animals through 3D buttons or speech instructions. The Neurofeedback system will guide the animal to actively interact with the patients according to their real-time emotional changes to reduce their negative emotions. Experiments and preliminary results show that it is possible to interact with virtual animals in Zoo Therapy, and the Neurofeedback system can intervene in Zoo VR environment when the emotional value goes down and might reduce patients’ negative emotions.

RUMAH SINGGAH KOMUNITAS LANSIA DI BOGOR

The occurrence of the aging population phenomenon in the future between 2030-2050 will result in the domination of the elderly population in the world, which is caused by the phenomenon of baby boomers that occurred in the 1960-70s where birth rates and dependence rates were very high. Elderly is the peak of the last cycle in human life so that the aging process will occur which is marked by a decrease in physical and psychological functions. This decline can be overcome by meeting the needs of the elderly such as the ability to be mobile, community and the most important thing is health. The development of times and the flow of globalization require people to be able to survive in all conditions. However, the busyness of their children at work is often the impact of the physical and psychological conditions of the elderly, which in the process of aging require more attention. In Indonesia, there are already many nursing homes where the elderly live. However, the social structure in Indonesia is not used to the trend of elderly people living separately from their families and homes. Therefore, the project of the Halfway House for the Elderly in Bogor can become a new place that can accommodate the needs of the elderly to get attention to their aging condition without having to leave their home and family. The Halfway House provides rooms that can be occupied periodically after attending seminars and therapy activities. Facilities such as entertainment, fitness, animal therapy, environmental therapy are available to apply the concept through the retreat, recharge and reborn stages so that they can become productive and be active for the elderly community. Keywords: health; community; elderly; aging; halfway house Abstrak Terjadinya fenomena aging population pada tahun 2030-2050 mendatang dimana populasi lansia akan mendominasi muka bumi diakibatkan oleh adanya fenomena baby boomers yang terjadi pada tahun 1960-70an dimana angka kelahiran dan ketergantungan sangat tinggi. Lansia merupakan puncak siklus terakhir dalam kehidupan manusia sehingga akan terjadinya proses penuaan yang ditandai dengan penurunan fungsi fisik dan psikis. Penurunan tersebut dapat diatasi dengan pemenuhan kebutuhan terhadap lansia seperti kemampuan untuk bermobilitas, berkomunitas dan hal yang terpenting adalah kesehatan. Berkembangnya zaman dan arus globalisasi menuntut masyarakat untuk dapat bertahan hidup dalam segala kondisi. Namun, kesibukan anak untuk bekerja seringkali menjadi dampak kondisi fisik dan psikis lansia yang dalam proses penuaannya membutuhkan perhatian lebih. Di Indonesia, sudah terdapat banyak panti jompo yang menjadi tempat tinggal kaum lansia. Akan tetapi, struktur masyarakat di Indonesia kurang menyukai dan tidak terbiasa apabila lansia harus tinggal secara terpisah dari keluarga dan rumah mereka. Oleh karena itu, proyek Rumah Singgah Komunitas Lansia di Bogor ini dapat menjadi tempat baru yang dapat mewadahi kebutuhan lansia untuk mendapatkan perhatian pada kondisi penuaan mereka tanpa harus meninggalkan rumah dan keluarganya. Rumah singgah ini menyediakan unit kamar yang dapat dihuni secara periodik tertentu setelah mengikuti seminar, dan kegiatan terapi. Fasilitas-fasilitas seperti hiburan, kebugaran, terapi hewan, terapi lingkungan yang tersedia diterapkan untuk mewujudkan konsep benih melalui tahapan retreat, recharge dan reborn sehingga dapat menjadi rumah singgah yang produktif dan aktif bagi komunitas lansia.

Robot Therapy Program for Patients with Dementia: Its Framework and Effectiveness

Robot therapy uses humanoid and animal-like robots. The robot therapy for older adults is expected to affect the therapeutic goals, including physical condition, cognitive function, and provide joy. By interaction with humanoid or animal-like robot, the older adults who are not physically active may have the improvement of their physical condition, such as hugging, stroking, talking with them, and participating in any activity involving the robot. The typical examples show that animal therapy has almost the same effectiveness as robot therapy among older people. It is clarified that robot therapy can be expected to have a healing effect on patients, improve motivation for activity, and increase the amount of activity, like animal therapy. Furthermore, it was essential to consider the intermediary role of nurses for connecting the robot and older adults and their role, even if the robot is not sophisticated enough to be useful as a humanoid nurse robot for rehabilitation and dialogue with older adults. Thus, robot therapy could be considered another important intervention in the challenging health and innovative care practices needed in the care of older persons. This chapter explains the robot therapy program for patients with dementia from the viewpoint of its framework and effectiveness.

Methodological Development of the Assessment Procedure and of the Course Design «Adaptive Swimming with Dolphins». The Impact on Children with ASD.

Nowadays dolphin-assisted therapy is a method of animal-assisted therapy without a standardized form of conduction and effectiveness assessment. In this paper, a literature review performed on the topic of the effects, impact mechanisms and application area of animal-assisted therapy with dolphins. There is numerous evidence that participation of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in dolphin therapy leads to a decrease in stereotypic behavior, increased concentration, improved speech skills, and stabilization of the emotional state. Nevertheless, in most cases, these results are inconclusive, due to poor control of the influence of side factors. The analysis resulted in the study design of the dolphin-assisted therapy effects on children with ASD, as well as evaluation methods, considering previous research experience and existing criticism of previous findings. The article also includes the hypotheses, goals and objectives description of an upcoming pilot study of the use of directed animal therapy with dolphins.

Selected Biological Medicinal Products and Their Veterinary Use

Definitions of biological medicinal products (BMPs) vary depending on the source. BMPs are manufactured using complex biological/biotechnological processes involving living cell lines, tissues and organisms such as microorganisms, plants, humans and even animals. Advances in modern biotechnological methods and genetic engineering have made it possible to search for new drugs with a targeted effect and simultaneous reduction of adverse effects, which has resulted in BMPs dynamically increasing their share in the pharmaceutical market. Currently, these drugs are widely used in the treatment of many human diseases, but an increasing number of drugs of this group are also being used in the treatment of animals, mainly in dermatology, rheumatology and oncology. This article presents the current state of knowledge in the field of biological medicinal products used in animal therapy.

Animal-assisted therapy on happiness and life quality of chronic psychiatric patients living in psychiatric residential care homes: a randomized controlled study

Background Psychiatric patients who live in psychiatric residential care homes may often feel a loss of autonomy, decision making, and participation in social activities. They usually have few or no visitors and also do not have any purpose for living. Animals may increase the happiness and quality of life of psychiatric patients. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) on happiness and quality of life of chronic psychiatric patients living in psychiatric residential care homes in Tehran, Iran. Methods This randomized controlled trial was conducted with 70 males with a chronic psychiatric disorder who were living in psychiatric residential care homes in Tehran, Iran, in 2016. The patients were randomly selected and divided into animal therapy intervention group and control group. Patients in the intervention group received animal-therapy with a bird for eight weeks. Patients in the control group received no intervention. The Oxford Happiness Inventory evaluated all patients pre and post-intervention. To evaluate life quality, the Wisconsin Quality of Life Index was used. Data were statically analyzed using SPSS Ver.19.0. ANCOVA with pretest statistical control. The significance level was set as p < 0.05. Results The mean age in both control and intervention groups were 47.12 and 45.82 years, and the mean age of illness onset for both control and intervention groups was 18.94 and 16.83 years, respectively. The result of this study showed that happiness in the intervention group had significantly increased (p < 0.001). The results also showed that the quality of life in four sub-domains increased significantly. Conclusion To bring happiness to chronic psychiatric patients living in psychiatric residential care homes is essential and may result in returning them to society and healthy life. The results of this study showed that AAT was helpful for chronic psychiatric patients living in psychiatric residential care homes and not only made them happy but also increased their quality of life. Trial registration This was registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) (clinical trial code: IRCT20101013004922N4. Registered 2018-08-19. Retrospectively registered, https://www.irct.ir/trial/32390

Socio-psychological rehabilitation of persons affected by emergencies by natural therapy

The article analyzes the foreign experience in the use of nature therapy as a new, effective technique for social and psychological rehabilitation of persons affected by emergency situations. The most common types of nature therapy, in particular, lisotherapy, garden therapy, urban therapy of green spaces, animal therapy (canistherapy, felinotherapy, hippotherapy, dolphin therapy, apitherapy, entomotherapy) are covered. The ways of using ecotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic (Social and therapeutic horticulture, animal-assisted interventions, green exercise, nature arts and crafts, specific ecotherapy techniques) are given.