Encyclopedia of animal rights and animal 101

58 | Animal-Assisted Therapy ANIMAL-ASSISTED THERAPY Animals’ ability to motivate and bring comfort and joy to people’s lives can be harnessed to enhance the quality of a person’s life Dramatic evidence of benefits in specific cases inspires people to incorporate animals into institutional settings, and some make regular visits with a companion animal to a facility It is not surprising that the practice of using animals for activities, therapy, and in education has developed faster than the scientific knowledge of efficacy, the animals’ needs, and the educational curricula for health professionals Seeing a sick or depressed child come alive in the presence of a dog, or an elderly person with Alzheimer’s disease emerge from a silent cloud when a cat approaches motivates countless people to participate as volunteers in animal-assisted activities, therapy, and education Although such programs are staffed by volunteers in virtually every community, the promise of animals helping people remains to be broadly mainstreamed in medical settings as a common intervention for treatment Standards for veterinary screening and oversight of the animals is an essential aspect of an integrated plan for therapy that uses animals People’s enjoyment of animals, along with growing evidence for the healthful effects of contact with companion animals, has facilitated the expanding practice of incorporating animals in interventions Therapeutic uses of animals range from brief visits to full-time partnership In the United States, since the 1980s, dogs and cats have been brought to visit in nursing homes and hospitals Full-time service dogs also began to be placed with persons using wheelchairs, providing them with therapeutic companionship and comfort 24 hours a day, and normalizing their lives in the community Assistance dogs are now specially trained to offer specific assistance in a growing range of tasks Dogs offer emotional support and companionship that presumably are of greater importance than the instrumental tasks they perform Dogs assist people with their personal needs, including giving warning and assistance with epileptic seizures, warning of hypoglycemic episodes, and calming during episodes of mental illness Whether the animal is a short-term visitor brought by a handler or a full-time assistance animal, they have the potential to be beneficial Another common animal-assisted intervention that requires professional supervision, physical infrastructure, extensive care and management for the horses, and ongoing assistance from several helpers, is equine assisted therapy, or hippotherapy, in which the movement of horseback riding is used to offer muscular and postural stimulation and motivate riders in their learning and classroom activities Since a treatment team is required for working with horses, special organizations address this form of therapy, including the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) The Animal and Handler Many applications of animal-assisted activities, therapy, and education use an animal that is brought by a handler to serve another person who can benefit The handler may complete special instruction courses and take the animal for training and screening in order to be well-