Table 1.
Author | Type of Study and Participants | Characteristics of the Intervention of Doll Therapy | Results | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | Study | Age (Yrs) | Sex | Inclusion Criteria | Emplacement | Experimental Group | Control Group | Outcome Measure | ||
Moyle, 2018 [29] |
35 | RCT | <65 years | Female | <65 years, dementia diagnosis; documented history (in last four weeks) of anxiety, agitation, or aggressiveness. | Residents were recruited from five LTC facilities located within a 60 km radius of the Brisbane Central Business District (Queensland, Australia) | Doll Therapy | Usual treatment | Mini Mental CMAI-SF; OERS |
Clinically significant improvements in the well-being of residents in comparison with the usual care, but there were no improvements in anxiety, agitation, and aggressiveness. |
Balzoti 2018 [31] |
30 | Non-randomized clinical trial | <65 years | 25 Females 10 Males |
Severe to low cognitive impairment, behavioral disorders, <65 years, dementia. | Residenza Sociosanitaria Assistenziale per Anziani “Storelli” in Bisceglie (Italia) | 1. Doll therapy 2. Gestural-verbal treatment |
No intervention | NPI-Q | Doll therapy was effective for the reduction of agitated and irritable behaviors. No changes in apathy were found. |
Cantarella, 2018 [28] |
32 | RCT | <70 years | 26 Females 6 Males |
Punctuation of ≥5 in the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire; <70 years; dementia diagnosis, post-traumatic stress disorder according to doctors; no participation in other non-pharmacological interventions before or during the study; without severe sensorial or perceptive deficiencies or ongoing mourning; and the capacity of understanding easy messages and producing sentences. | Residential facilities | Doll Therapy | Hand-warmer | SPMSQ EBS |
Significative reduction in post-traumatic stress disorder, relief of negative feelings, fulfilling of attachment needs, and the reduction of the feeling of loneliness. Several aspects that influence food intake, such as anguish, improved but not enough to improve the eating behavior. |
Yilmaz, 2020 [30] |
29 | RCT | 82–89 years | 15 Females 14 Males |
Moderate-severe dementia, motor abilities needed to hold and caress a doll, adequate visual and auditive functions, and ability to communicate in Turkish. | A. KadirU¨ c¸yıldız, elder facility | Doll Therapy | No intervention | SMMSE CMAI NPI-Q |
Statistically significant improvements in agitation and behavior problems. Cognition did not improve. |
Shin, 2015 [20] |
62 | pre-post | 82.4 years | 86.3% Females 74.5% Males | Slight-severe cognitive impairment, three months residing in the nursing home. | Korea nursing home | Doll Therapy | - | SMMSE QUALID |
Statistically significant decrease in the use of swear words, shouts, aggressive episodes, and less obsessive behaviors. Erratic wandering episodes were reduced as well. There were found positive changes in moods and physical appearance, a decrease of depression, and an increment of the interactions with other individuals, but without significant differences. |
Mackenzie, 2006 [33] |
14 | Pilot study | 75–94 years | 12 Females 2 Males |
- | Nursing home | Doll Therapy | - | Ad hoc questionnaire | Increase in social interaction. The participants seemed to be happier and less agitated. They were also more receptive towards personal care activities; erratic wandering episodes were reduced. |
Cohen-Mansfield, 2014 [32] |
93 | Exploratory study | 85.9 years | 73% Females | Three months residing at a nursing home, behavior disorders, <60, dementia diagnosis. | Maryland nursing home | Doll Therapy | - | MMSE CAR LMBS |
There was a rejection of Doll Therapy; it is associated with a low social level. In spite of this, it was one of the most used therapies and obtained a relatively high rate for the impact on the behavioral symptoms. |
CAR: Change Assessment Rating; CMAI-SF: Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory-Short Form; EBS: Eating Behavior Scale; LMBS: Lawton’s Modified Behavior Stream; LTC: Long term care; MMSE: Mini-Mental Status Examination; NPI-Q: Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire; OERS: Observed Emotion Rating Scale; QUALID: quality of life in late-stage dementia; SMMSE: Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination; SPMSQ: short portable mental status questionnaire; RCT: randomized controlled trial.