Animal-Assisted Therapy in Patients With Schizophrenia

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) can be helpful to improve the outcomes of psychiatric and emotional symptoms, physical activeness, social skills, well-beings in patients with physical and mental illness and the elderly. The study aims to assess the applications and outcomes of psychiatric symptoms, social skills, cognitive function, well-beings, emotional status and physical fitness of AAT program applied to middle-aged and older patients with chronic schizophrenia. The investigators will recruit 40 patients with chronic schizophrenia who were admitted to day care ward and rehabilitation ward, and conduct a randomized, controlled study. 40 patients will be stratified by the ward into AAT group and control group. AAT group will complete the 12-week program. This study contains two assessment sessions completed within one week before and after 12-week program. Subjects will be evaluated by the PANSS, ACIS, MoCA-T, CHI, DASS-21, CST, TUG and 5MWT in both sessions. Statistical analysis is examined using paired t-test to see whether there is a significant difference (based on p-value) between the scores of two assessment sessions in the AAT and control group, and using independent t-test to see whether there is a significant difference in the change scores of two assessment sessions between the 2 groups.