Animal-Assisted Therapy

Essay by mariageneUniversity, Master'sA, May 2011

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Animal-Assisted Therapy

The recent researches made by prominent scientists show that pet can be good for people's health and their well-being. Now you can see pets in some therapeutic regimens of nursery houses, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric institutions and some others. Pets are usually used to help the patient to inmate in correctional facilities and gain sympathy. For example, autistic children can swim with dolphins. There are some special cases when pets' help is extremely necessary and such kind of treatment was called Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT).

Animal-Assisted Therapy is a kind of intervention in which animal selected according to special criteria take an active part in the treatment process. "AAT is directed and/or delivered by a health/human service professional with specialized expertise, and within the scope of practice of his/her profession" (Delta Society, 2005).The main aim of AAT is to reach improvements in the patient's emotional, social and physical functioning, thinking and intellectual skills.

AAT can be presented in different forms and can be of group or individual character. This kind of therapy allows to measure progress and use an individual approach for every patient.

To understand this therapy better it is necessary to take a certain example. A child has difficulty with motor skills. Occupational therapist brings a special cat and starts a program of rehabilitation with the child. The child opens containers with food for cat and feeds the cat. In a such way the child is training his motor skill while entertaining. Child's interest and relaxing atmosphere are two main components of the therapy.

This therapy is worth attention for RN Nurse because it proposes a new way of successful and easy treatment of some diseases and solution of some people's problems. This approach is especially effective for children. Its main aims are to improve wheelchair and motor...