Companion Dog & Loneliness in Elderly Persons

Elderly may have problems to create personal connections or to have physical activities in their day- to - day life; loneliness and social isolation may increase fragility in this population. Companion dog presence favours social relations, affective feelings and physical exercises. On the other hand dog presence raises risk of falling and has a cost for its owner. This project seeks to assess positive impacts of companion dog presence in elderly living at home. This transdisciplinar study (general practionners, veterinarians, dog instructors, nurses, researchers) evaluates loneliness and social isolation between elderly with or without a companion dog at home. Objective:To Evaluate the link between companion dog presence and loneliness in elderly persons living at home Method: An Observational, multicentric, transversal, national, comparative study (elderly with companion dog vs elderly without a dog). 200 subjects needed