Paws for Intervention: Perceptions About the Use of Dogs in Schools

Zents, Courtney E.; Fisk, Amy K.; Lauback, Cris W.

doi:10.1080/15401383.2016.1189371

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The evidence in favor of the wellbeing benefits associated with interacting with a pet (typically a dog), has led to a rise in the use of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) in structured visitation programs to organizations (1), such as nursing homes (10, 11), healthcare settings (12–14), and educational institutions (15–17). Historically, dogs in the workplace has typically been limited to allowing trained assistance dogs public access in office-based buildings, to support their owners who may have visual or hearing difficulties (18, 19), or other medical problems such as diabetes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Dogs Into the Office: A Novel Strategy for Promoting Work Engagement, Commitment and Quality of Life

Hall

Mills

2019

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Despite growing interest in “take your dog to work” days and the wellbeing benefits associated with interactions with a friendly dog (e.g., animal-assisted activities), there has been little quantification of the benefits of this. We analyzed responses to work-related (work engagement, turnover intention, work-based friendship acuity, social media use, and work-related quality of life) and dog-related (pet dog attachment and dog general health) scales from 749 employees. The predominantly female sample was comprised of 243 employees who brought their dog to work (167 = “often” brought dog to work; 76 = “sometimes” brought dog to work), the remaining 506 did not bring their dog to work. Employees who “often” took their dog to work reported higher than average work engagement on all factors (vigor, dedication, absorption, total), with significant differences reported in comparison to those who “sometimes” (vigor and total) and “never” (vigor, dedication, absorption, total) took their dog to work. Turnover intention was also significantly lower and work-based friendship acuity higher in the group of employees who “often,” compared to “never,” took their dog to work. Benefits of bringing your dog to work were also observed in terms of work-related quality of life, with higher scores on general wellbeing, home-work interface, job career-satisfaction, control at work, working conditions, and overall work quality of life in those who “often” compared to “never” take their dog to work. Employees who “never” took their dog to work reported lower use of social media during break times. We also identified factors which may be important to consider in developing dogs-in-the-workplace policies; dog-demographics including weight (i.e., size), breed-type, and training may be important to consider in defining the ideal office dog and deserve further research. Given the need to improve employee wellbeing and satisfaction to promote effective business performance and economic gain, these results have important implications for office based businesses considering allowing dogs in the workplace.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Dogs Into the Office: A Novel Strategy for Promoting Work Engagement, Commitment and Quality of Life

Hall

Mills

2019

Front. Vet. Sci.

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“…Students, faculty and staff attend to access the love/comfort (understood as “having reciprocal love for the dogs and gaining positive feelings from visiting with them” (pp. 332–333)), and support (“de-stressing and relaxing by interacting with the dogs” (p. 333) that therapy dogs have been recognized to provide [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Visiting therapy dogs are one type of an animal assisted intervention (AAI).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Commentary about Lessons Learned: Transitioning a Therapy Dog Program Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dell

Williamson

McKenzie

et al. 2021

Animals

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In 2015, the University of Saskatchewan PAWS Your Stress Therapy Dog program partnered with St. John Ambulance for therapy dog teams to visit our campus and offer attendees love, comfort and support. We recognized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that students, staff and faculty may require mental health support, particularly with the challenges of isolation and loneliness. In response, our team transitioned from an in-person to a novel online format at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We designed online content for participants to (1) connect with therapy dogs and experience feelings of love, comfort and support as occurred in in-person programming, and (2) learn about pandemic-specific, evidence-informed mental health knowledge. Our unique approach highlighted what dogs can teach humans about health through their own care and daily activities. From April to June 2020, we developed a website, created 28 Facebook livestreams and 60 pre-recorded videos which featured therapy dogs and handlers, and cross-promoted on various social media platforms. Over three months, first a combined process-outcome evaluation helped us determine whether our activities contributed to the program’s goals. A subsequent needs assessment allowed us to elicit participant preferences for the program moving forward. This commentary reflects on these findings and our teams’ collective experiences to share our key lessons learned related to program personnel needs, therapy dog handler training and support requirements, and online programming prerequisites. This combined understanding is informing our current activities with the virtual program and should be of interest to other therapy dog programs transitioning online.

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“…Research in primary and secondary schools has shown that therapy and visitation dogs lead to improved relationships among classmates and authority figures, decreased tantrums, increased eye contact, and decreased learned helplessness. (Granger et al, 1998;Zents, Fisk & Lauback, 2017).…”

Section: Health and Social Benefits Of Visitation And Therapy Dogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zents (2018) explored the perceptions of the use of dogs in four rural school districts in Western New York. A sample of both faculty and students were included; however, different interviews and surveys were given to the groups (Zents, 2017). Most students felt they had a close relationship to the dog and felt unconditional love, and faculty reported feeling that therapy dogs were either somewhat or very effective in helping students.…”

Section: Perception Studies On Aaimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceptions of Students, Faculty, and Staff Concerning Visitation Dogs on College Campuses

Hughes¹

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The main purpose of this descriptive study was to describe how students, faculty, and staff are perceiving the use of visitation and therapy dogs on college campuses. This study found that visitation and therapy dogs are being positively received by the campus community and West Virginia University. This study investigated respondent's general perceptions of dogs, perceived knowledge of the terms visitation dog, therapy dog, and service dog, perceptions of the use of visitation and therapy dogs on college campuses and perceptions of interactions of visitation and therapy dogs on college campuses. v

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Paws for Intervention: Perceptions About the Use of Dogs in Schools

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

Taking Dogs Into the Office: A Novel Strategy for Promoting Work Engagement, Commitment and Quality of Life

Taking Dogs Into the Office: A Novel Strategy for Promoting Work Engagement, Commitment and Quality of Life

A Commentary about Lessons Learned: Transitioning a Therapy Dog Program Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Perceptions of Students, Faculty, and Staff Concerning Visitation Dogs on College Campuses

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