Domestic animal visitation as therapy with adult home residents

Prevalence of zoonotic agents in dogs visiting hospitalized people in Ontario: implications for infection control

“…Potential benefits include distraction of participants from pain and loneliness, reduced anxiety and depression, and increased patient physical and social activity. [1][2][3][4][5] Despite these beneficial effects, there has been pressure to restrict animal visits due to the health risks that animals may pose to the individuals they are intended to help. 6,7 While as yet unproven, this is not an unrealistic concern because of the high-risk nature of some patients and the potential for carriage of zoonotic agents by healthy dogs.…”

Equine Therapy in the Treatment of Female Eating Disorder

“…Prior research further suggests that animal-assisted therapies may reduce depressive symptoms for several reasons [2,4]: patients rediscover joy through encounters with the outdoors and an appreciation for the uniqueness of the animal they are working with; patients reduce their absorbing, depressive ruminations because they direct their attention outwardly toward safe and caring interactions with the therapy animal; patients rediscover spontaneity and the ability for healthy recreation through the playful aspects of animal-assisted therapy, thus reducing the experience of anhedonia. The relationship we find between EQT and a reduction in depressive symptoms suggests that these effects of animal-assisted therapy may also occur for ED patients engaged in EQT.…”

“…The disorders for which efficacy has been suggested include depression, childhood internalizing behaviors, and low self-esteem [1][2][3][4][5]; anxiety [6][7][8]; grief and loss [9]; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [10]; conduct and antisocial personality disorders and childhood externalizing behaviors [5,11,12]; dissociative disorders [13]; post-traumatic stress disorder [14][15][16]; Alzheimers disease and dementia [17][18][19][20]; pervasive developmental disorders and learning disabilities [21][22][23][24][25]; chronic mental illnesses [26][27][28][29][30][31]; and general psychological distress among residential treatment center patients [32,33] conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of studies involving animal-assisted therapy. They concluded that animal-assisted therapy was associated with moderate effect sizes in improving outcomes in four areas: autism-spectrum symptoms, medical difficulties, behavioral problems, and emotional well-being.…”

The Development of an Enhanced Extension Agent Training to Create Butterfly Gardens in Louisiana

“…Pet-facilitated therapy is another term commonly used to describe AAT and can be defined as "a type of therapy that uses dogs or other pets to improve the physical and mental health of patients with certain acute or chronic diseases" (Dictionary of Cancer Terms 2009). The animals may take on a number of roles such as acting as a companion, a social facilitator, or a substitute for close interpersonal relationships (Arnold 1995;Francis et al 1985). Niksa (2007) explains that animals have the capacity to teach human beings to understand qualities about themselves as well as others.…”