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8:49pm

Dog Lonliness

One has floppy ears, the other has blinking
lights. But a new study suggests a robotic dog is about as equally
effective as a real one when it comes to relieving loneliness for
nursing home residents.
The study by Saint Louis University builds on previous findings
by the researchers, who learned that frequent dog visits decreased
loneliness of nursing home residents. It appears in the March issue
of the Journal of The American Medical Directors Association.
To test whether residents responded better to a trained therapy
dog or the Sony-made robot dog, researchers divided 38 nursing home
residents into three groups at three long-term care facilities in
St. Louis.
It took a little longer to warm up to the metallic creature, but
residents eventually petted and talked to him.
Some experts call the findings encouraging but not completely
convincing.