Pets in Aged Care

In this analysis I look at the impact of allowing pets in aged care. Some research has been done that suggests keeping pets in residential aged care can be therapeutic for people living with dementia (Travers et al. 2013). As part of MOA Benchmarking’s audit “Emotional, Spiritual, & Psychological Wellbeing” for March 2023, the consumer is asked whether they are allowed a pet and also whether the home supports their emotional and psychological wellbeing. Here I visualise those questions.

The aged care services that chose to do this audit may not be representative of Australia in general, but the relationships that exist between questions are likely to persist to some extent. Among the 3088 responses, 2707 consumers indicated that they were allowed to keep a pet or be visited by one. This means that, to the nearest percent, 88% of consumers indicated that they were allowed to keep or be visited by a pet. This proportion is visualised as a waffle plot, in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The proportion of consumers that indicated they were allowed to keep or be visited by a pet.

Supporting consumer choice is undeniably beneficial, as it empowers individuals to make decisions that align with their preferences. Additionally, there is also evidence that consumers that are allowed to keep or be visited by a pet feel their emotional and psychological wellbeing is being supported. This is evident from the higher proportion of consumers responding agree and strongly agree to the statement “the home supports my emotional and psychological wellbeing” in Figure 2 among the consumers that were allowed contact with pets.

Figure 2: Perception of support for wellbeing, stratified by pet policy.

References

Travers, Catherine, Jacqueline Perkins, Jacqui Rand, Helen Bartlett, and John Morton. 2013. “An Evaluation of Dog-Assisted Therapy for Residents of Aged Care Facilities with Dementia.” Anthrozoös 26 (2): 213–25. https://doi.org/10.2752/175303713x13636846944169.