Effects of dog assisted activities on life of residents of a Home for older people Notranje Gorice

V diplomskem delu sem raziskovala vpliv aktivnosti s terapevtskimi psi na življenje stanovalcev Centra starejših Notranje Gorice. V teoretičnem delu sem predstavila socialno delo s starimi ljudmi, potrebe v starosti in institucionalno oskrbo ter socialne stike in osamljenost v starosti. Posebno poglavje sem namenila vlogam socialne delavke v domovih za stare ljudi ter predstavila, kaj sploh so aktivnosti in terapija s pomočjo živali, predstavila pa sem tudi nekaj dosedanjih raziskav na tem področju. Izvedla sem kvalitativno raziskavo, s katero sem želela izvedeti, kako terapevtski psi vplivajo na stanovalce Centra starejših Notranje Gorice. Zanimalo me je, kako terapevtski psi vplivajo na razpoloženje stanovalcev, občutek osamljenosti, medsebojno sporazumevanje in socialne mreže stanovalcev. Želela sem raziskati, kako in na katerih področjih terapevtski psi spodbujajo stanovalce. Zanimalo me je tudi, kako vplivajo na krepitev moči stanovalcev in na vzpostavljanje osebnega stika ter delovnega odnosa med stanovalci in strokovnimi delavci. Opravila sem deset intervjujev, pet s stanovalci Centra starejših Notranje Gorice, tri s strokovnimi delavkami istega centra in dva z izvajalkama aktivnosti s terapevtskimi psi iz društva Ambasadorji nasmeha, ki delujeta v tem domu. Rezultati so pokazali, da je razpoloženje stanovalcev ob terapevtskih psih boljše, prav tako celotna klima v domu. S pomočjo terapevtskih psov se povečajo socialni stiki in krepijo socialne mreže stanovalcev. Terapevtski psi uporabnikom predstavljajo vir socialne in čustvene opore ter so zanje dodaten vir moči. Motivirajo jih pri vključevanju v aktivnosti doma, novim stanovalcem pa pomenijo spodbudo pri integraciji v domsko življenje. Terapevtski psi lahko pripomorejo pri vzpostavljanju osebnega stika in delovnega odnosa med stanovalcem in socialno delavko. Zaradi prej naštetih vplivov lahko pripomorejo h kakovostnejšemu delu socialne delavke z uporabnikom. Zato sem prišla do ugotovitve, da je vključevanje terapevtskih psov v delo socialne delavke smiselno, zlasti pri stanovalcih, ki imajo radi živali. Predlagam, da se aktivnosti s pomočjo terapevtskih živali v življenje stanovalcev vključi bolj pogosto, ne le na 14 dni, saj bodo aktivnosti tako bolj učinkovite. Predlagam, da se terapevtske pse vključi v delo socialne delavke, saj ti lahko pomagajo že pri prvi lažji vzpostavitvi pristnega osebnega stika med uporabnikom in socialno delavko. Menim, da bi bilo v prihodnje dobro raziskati različne prakse aktivnosti s pomočjo živali, ki se odvijajo po domovih v Sloveniji. Dobro bi bilo vključiti še mnenja ostalih delavcev v domu in tudi sorodnike stanovalcev. Prav tako bi bilo dobro raziskati mnenja socialnih delavk na tem področju.In my graduation thesis, I explored the influence of dog therapy on the life of residents of the Home for older people Notranje Gorice. Theoretical part of my thesis is a presentation of social work with older people, institutional care and needs of older people. Furthermore, social contacts, networks and loneliness are presented. What is also presented is the role of a social worker in a home for older people and of course animal assisted therapy and animal assisted activities, as well as some researches, conducted in the past. I conducted a qualitative research with which I wanted to find out the effects of dog assisted activities on the residents of the Home for older people Notranje Gorice. I wanted to find out how therapy dogs affect emotions of residents as well as their feeling of loneliness. Furthermore, how they affect communication and social networks of residents. Next, I wanted to find out how they affect motivation of residents and on which areas they encourage them the most. I also wanted to find out how they empower residents and how they can help establish the working relationship between the social worker and residents. The research is consisted out of 10 interviews, which included five residents, three experts and two guides of therapy dogs from association Ambasadorji nasmeha. Results of the research showed that the mood of residents improved significantly as well as the general atmosphere. Social interactions are more frequent and social networks of residents are richer. Therapy dogs represent social as well as emotional support for older people. They mean an additional source of empowerment. Therapy dogs motivate residents to stay included in activities. They also mean additional encouragement for integration in institutional life for new residents. Therapy dogs can also help establishing personal contact and a working relationship between a social worker and residents. Due to the aforementioned impacts, they can raise quality of work between residents and a social worker. My conclusion is that involving therapy dogs in social work practice with older people makes sense, especially when residents love animals. I suggest including animal assisted activities more often. I also suggest practicing animal assisted therapy individually as well as practicing it with immobile disabled residents which are often excluded. It would be advisable to include therapy animals in social work practice in a home for older people. I think it would be useful to explore different examples of good practice of animal assisted activities in homes for older people in Slovenia. It would be useful to include other workers of a home for older people as well as relatives of residents. It could also be useful to research opinion of social workers in Slovenian homes on this topic as well