When Dogs Make the Difference: Jail-Based Parenting With and Without Animal-Assisted Therapy

With 1.7 million children in the United States with an incarcerated parent, the need to provide evidence-based programming, which helps incarcerated mothers re-establish healthy relationships with their children, is essential. This study examines Parenting, Prison, and Pups, a jail-based parenting course for incarcerated women, integrated with the use of animal-assisted therapy (AAT). Utilizing a mixed-method quasi-experimental design, the authors examined differences between mothers who completed a parenting course with AAT, compared with those who completed the same course without AAT; statistically significant lower rates of parental stress and higher rates of self-esteem and parental knowledge among the AAT group were found. Based on qualitative data, the presence of therapy dogs appeared to encourage communication, trust, and connectedness between group members. These results indicate the importance of using innovative tools to help incarcerated women, who often have long histories of trauma and abuse, to develop healthy bonds with their children.

Evidence of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Neurological Diseases in Adults: A Systematic Review

Background: In recent years, the possibility of intervening humans with animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been growing due to numerous physical, psychological, and social benefits provided to humanity, enabling them to maintain or improve their quality of life. There exist different animals through which this therapy can be performed. The purpose of this systematic review will focus on the effects of AAT in several neurological diseases. Methods: The search of clinical trials was carried out in the PubMed, Scielo, Embase and PEDro databases. The selection of articles was made according to the different inclusion and exclusion criteria, incorporating those that approached neurological diseases to be reviewed. Results: Twenty-five clinical trials were identified, seventeen of which were finally included in the review. The results indicate that animal-assisted therapy (AAT) in different neurological diseases has many benefits in several areas, for example, in motor and physical ability as well as in mental and behavioural health. Conclusions: This systematic review provides occupational therapy practitioners with evidence on the use of activity based on animal-assisted therapy as a novel field of intervention that can complement other therapies and obtain benefits in different populations.

Dogs as Therapeutic Partners, Not Therapeutic Tools: Ethical Considerations for AAT in the Correctional Setting

Although the benefits of animal assisted therapy for people are well established, the ethical considerations for the welfare and safety of the non-human animals involved are not. Without an accrediting body responsible for creating and overseeing national standards, therapy animal organizations are forced to create their own guidelines, creating inconsistencies within the field. Based on interviews conducted with therapy teams who have worked with Parenting, Prison & Pups (PPP), a parenting program provided to incarcerated jailed women that is integrated with the use of animal-assisted therapy (AAT), this article explores the extent of ethics training offered for AAT teams and will examine how agencies and handlers promote and ensure the safety of canine partners, especially in a correctional setting. The research suggests that specific protocols put forth by individual AAT organizations, which can provide for a national model, can afford for the safety and comfortability of canine partners, especially in a corrections environment, but implies that in order to maintain consistency and increase therapy team professionalism, national standards are a necessity. Guidelines are specifically essential for mental health professionals, who lack guidelines from their own accrediting bodies’ code of ethics, and may incorporate non-human therapy partners into their work settings, without proper supervision.

The overview of utilizing complementary therapy to relieve stress or anxiety in emergency department patients: animal-assisted therapy, art therapy, and music therapy

The Emergency Department could be a stressful environment for patients. Anxiety and depression may develop due to the atmosphere, in addition to patients’ concerns for their health conditions. The condition could potentially affect the experience of the patient in the Emergency Department and the quality of life after the visit. Pharmacological therapy could be administered to the patients. However, adverse effects may be associated with the treatment. Less aggressive complementary treatment approaches are presented in this article. Controlled clinical trials and randomized pilot studies of different complementary therapies, including animal-assisted therapy, art therapy, and music therapy, were conducted. The complementary therapies discussed in this article showed positive outcomes for patients with hospital-induced anxiety and has no adverse effect reported. Hence, hospitals may consider introducing complementary therapies, such as those mentioned in this study, to improve the patients’ experiences in the Emergency Department

Recent Developments on Social Robots and Imitation Learning for Robotic Therapy

The development of social robots has been notably increasing and gaining popularity in recent times. These are also being integrated into healthcare systems, as a means to accompany patients, provide mental health therapy, and entertainment in place of direct human intervention. This paper discusses the recent developments on imitation learning for robot therapy in the field of social robotics to gain knowledge about the importance of this approach as an alternative solution to mental health therapy. The integration of robots to the mental healthcare system is known as robot therapy, which is used as a substitute for animal assisted therapy. Therapy that makes use of animals has been proven to be effective in dealing with mental disorders. However, there are risks such as allergic reactions, bites, and scratches that come with animal assisted therapy, but not robot therapy. The goal for developing robots for this is to make them seem almost life-like--has a way of thinking and emotions. For this to happen, humanoids are being programmed to appear human-like. A solution for this is imitation learning, which is a way for machines to learn, not only tasks, but responses in certain situations, only by observing and imitating humans in an environment.

Ethical Aspects in Animal Assisted Therapy in Psychiatry

"Animal-assisted therapy is a complementary therapy in which an animal that meets certain well-defined criteria is an integral part of the therapeutic process. It has proven its positive contribution in treating disorders such as ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, phobias, suicidal ideation. Human-animal interaction lowers stress, anxiety and increases quality of life. The therapy animal, in order to have the expected motivating role, must have a balanced personality and want to interact with people. In this sense, it goes through training programs based on obedience and desensitization to certain stimuli. This peculiar context raises ethical issues for the patient and the animal co-therapist, which requires setting boundaries. Although the legal framework sets out the elements on animal welfare, ethical issues that arise for animals are: the animal species that may be involved, limiting their freedom, endangering their welfare, the risk of exploitation (which can lead to their fatigue and burn-out), the type of interaction -which must be voluntary, bidirectional. Regarding the patient, in addition to the aspects related to beneficence and nonmaleficence, there are issues in obtaining an adequate informed consent (targeting possible allergies, some religious / cultural beliefs incompatible with this type of therapy). Thus, animal-assisted therapy must take into account the benefits of both parties involved, without instrumentalizing the animals. "

Exploring Animal-Assisted Therapy for Creating Rich Communicative Environments and Targeting Communication Goals in Subacute Rehabilitation

Purpose This study continues our research examining the use of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) for patients with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. AAT pairs an animal/handler team with a licensed therapist during sessions to target discipline-specific goals. Our original study focused on dog/handler teams paired with occupational and physical therapists during inpatient rehabilitation sessions. We documented multiple ways that AAT enriched the communicative environment, increasing the amount, complexity, and voluntariness of patient participation. This study focuses on speech-language pathology sessions, comparing communicative environments during AAT and traditional sessions. We also examined the speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') experiences in learning to plan for and target communication goals for patients during AAT sessions. Method This interpretive design combines ethnographic methods with participatory action research. We recruited 10 patients from an inpatient rehabilitation unit and two SLPs. We video-recorded 20 speech-language pathology sessions (one AAT and one traditional for each patient) and conducted 26 interviews. We consulted with SLPs on how to incorporate AAT into their treatment during their preparation time and used self-report measures to track changes in their planning time and confidence across the 6-week study. Findings Across participants, AAT sessions provided richer communicative environments than traditional speech-language pathology sessions as measured by participant talk time, mean length of turns, and use of interactional discourse resources such as narrative use and playful language. The SLPs were rapidly able to adapt their clinical practice to incorporate AAT and displayed rapid and marked decreases in their initial planning time and increases in confidence. Conclusion AAT sessions created meaningful, rich, and complex communicative environments in a clinical space for participants to align with others around a shared interest.