Calming Cuddlies for Dementia Therapy
BCHC Charity has been providing inpatient wards with dolls for patients with dementia since 2019, and thanks to the success of that initiative, are now offering plush toy dogs to support more patients.
Research shows that the use of dolls as therapeutic aids for people with dementia has been incredibly beneficial across healthcare settings, as dolls or soft toy animals can bring back pleasant memories, provide comfort, renew a sense of purpose, and encourage engagement with families, carers, and ward staff.
Therapy dolls were trialled within BCHC in July 2019 and introduced as a permanent charity-funded offer after proving to be incredibly helpful to patients who had their own or cared for others’ children in their lives, giving them something to care for and inspiring reminiscence. Tracy Jones & Gemima McGuinness of the BCHC Enhanced Care Team noted however that the use of dolls was not helpful for those who haven’t previously looked after a child. In a bid to provide comfort for those patients too, they approached the charity with the idea of providing plush toy dogs for a similar therapeutic purpose.
Tracy says, “ We have found that patients with dementia can be agitated on the wards. By finding out information about their past lives, we can try and work out how we can help them to relax and feel more settled. We have had two patients that loved dogs and had them when they were younger. On giving them the therapy dogs, we found they would sit there and start stroking them and they would relax. One patient gave her dog a name. By just stroking the dog it had a soothing effect on the patients.”
The therapy dogs are given to those who have previously owned a dog and have proven to have a calming effect. The patients can take the dogs home with them when discharged from the ward, to avoid the distress of the patient ‘losing’ the pet, and so that the therapeutic benefits can continue at home.
BCHC Charity are only able to continue to provide dementia-friendly resources thanks to kind donations and fundraising; please contact the Charity Team if you would like to donate or fundraise to help us make a difference for BCHC patients with dementia.