User:Ashley.restel/Animal-assisted therapy

Ethical concerns
Though AAT has existed and been in practice for decades, the lack of standardization creates potential risks for both the animals and humans involved. Due to the unclear structural guidelines on the use of animals in therapeutic settings and leaving possibilities of impacts on the animal including stress, injury, and health complications. Research has shown that despite quality guidelines in place to ensure the health of the therapy animal, there are reports of negative interactions between human participant and therapy dogs. These reports include mistreating and teasing the dogs by patients and staff at locations in which therapy is hosted. In studies conducted, certain disabilities had to be excluded from the experiment due to increase in the stress of the therapy dog, and ultimately decline in overall wellbeing. There is a question as to whether bringing animals into AAT settings where the client has a history of violence is ethical, or if the benefit outweighs the risk.

Equine assisted therapy showed a need for more studies of equine behavior to obtain an understanding of stress signals from horses. Through understanding the stress signals shown by horses, a safe and healthy experience during the therapy session can be held, by allowing handlers to minimize stress. For therapy animals limited time for rest, multiple sessions, and long duration of sessions were linked to higher stress. Assessing animals for signs of fatigue and stress can prevent negative experience for both humans and animals involved. Animals used should be limited to specific durations and number of sessions, as well as given access to proper environmental conditions, food, water, and rest.

Though AAT has existed and been in practice for decades, the lack of standardization creates potential risks for both the animals and humans involved. While there have been some studies focusing on the possibility of disease spread to human clients, there has been less focus on the possible impacts on the animal including stress, injury, and health complications. This is true not only in clinical settings but in home settings where animals also often act in supportive roles for their humans as well. AAT play therapy can help children open up more than using toys or other objects that cannot interact. There is a question as to whether bringing animals into AAT settings where the client has a history of violence is ethical, or if the benefit outweighs the risk. Limited research does not give a conclusive answer to this question.

Silva NB, Osório FL. Impact of an animal-assisted therapy programme on physiological and psychosocial variables of paediatric oncology patients. PLoS One. 2018 Apr 4;13(4):e0194731. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194731. PMID: 29617398; PMCID: PMC5884536.

Urbanski BL, Lazenby M. Distress among hospitalized pediatric cancer patients modified by pet-therapy intervention to improve quality of life. J Pediatr Oncol Nurs. 2012 Sep-Oct;29(5):272-82. doi: 10.1177/1043454212455697. PMID: 22907682.

Rodriguez KE, Herzog H, Gee NR. Variability in Human-Animal Interaction Research. Front Vet Sci. 2021 Jan 15;7:619600. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.619600. PMID: 33521092; PMCID: PMC7843787.

Correale C, Borgi M, Collacchi B, Falamesca C, Gentile S, Vigevano F, Cappelletti S, Cirulli F. Improving the Emotional Distress and the Experience of Hospitalization in Children and Adolescent Patients Through Animal Assisted Interventions: A Systematic Review. Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 4;13:840107. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.840107. PMID: 35317013; PMCID: PMC8934415.

Santaniello A, Garzillo S, Cristiano S, Fioretti A, Menna LF. The Research of Standardized Protocols for Dog Involvement in Animal-Assisted Therapy: A Systematic Review. Animals (Basel). 2021 Sep 2;11(9):2576. doi: 10.3390/ani11092576. PMID: 34573542; PMCID: PMC8468867.

Pediatric care
Animals can be used as a distraction method when it comes to various situations or pain, and animals can also help bring happiness, pleasure, and entertainment to the pediatric population. Animals can also help improve children's moods and reinforce positive behaviors while helping to decrease negative ones.

Behavioral health
Therapists rely on techniques such as monitoring a child's behavior with the animal, their tone of voice, and indirect interviewing. Animal-assisted therapy can be used in children with mental health problems, as a stand-alone treatment, or along with conventional methods.

Hospital setting
Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is often used in hospital settings with children to try to improve their overall well-being and mood during. Most commonly reported research results are decreased anxiety and pain within the pediatric population. One area of pediatric hospital care in which the use of AAT has been studied is MRI procedures which can trigger negative emotions in children, causing them to move and require procedural sedation. After AAT intervention, the anxiety levels of the subjects decreased significantly when compared to controls. Dogs have been shown to increase comfort and decrease pain in pediatric palliative care. Specific tactics have not been researched, but collective reviews of varied techniques displayed similar results of increased comfort reports by children and guardians. Though meta analysis has determined that children receiving AAT have seen a reduction in pain when compared to control groups, further quantitative research is needed to confirm this conclusion.

Risks
Though AAT has existed and been in practice for decades, the lack of standardization creates potential risks for both the animals and humans involved. As the use amongst pediatric populations continues to climb, another concern that has been raised about the use of animals in a hospital setting is the spread of germs. Many children in hospital settings have weakened immune systems and are already at risk of contracting hospital-borne infections. It has been found that both the patients and dogs participating in therapy experienced changes to their microbiome after their sessions. Whether these changes pose a long term benefit or risk has yet to be proven, and more in depth studies are needed to make this determination. Additionally researchers are working to find an accurate way to determine the effects of AAT on both the service animal and the human participating in therapy.