Do Animals Have an Effect on Your Health? By: Nicole Morrison & Bronwyn Crawford

What is Animal Assisted Therapy? Goals of AAT: -Improve fine motor skills. -Improve wheelchair skills. -Improve standing balance. -Mental Health. -Physical Health. -Increase self-esteem. Caleb’s story: Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is designed to promote improvement in the mental and physical health of any individual. AAT is provided in a variety of settings including; group, individual, or outdoors.

Who can Benefit From AAT? Animal-assisted therapy can significantly reduce pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue in people with a range of health problems: -Children having dental procedures -People receiving cancer treatment -People in long-term care facilities -People hospitalized with chronic heart failure -Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder Pet therapy is also being used in nonmedical settings, such as universities and community programs, to help people deal with anxiety and stress.

Hypothesis: Mental Health: The presence of animals in treatment has a positive outcome on the patient’s mental health. Physical Health : The presence of animals in treatment has a positive outcome on the patient’s physical health.

Mental Health: Autism: Autism and other Spectrum Disorders are characterized by delays or difficulties (or deficits) in four main areas. These are Social Interaction, Language and Communication, Repetitive/Restricted Behavior (range of activities and interests), and Sensory Processing (auditory, visual, tactical inputs, etc.). The Interactive Autism Network (IAN), the largest online autism research project in the United States, has collected information about use of treatments from thousands of families of children with autism spectrum disorders. Of the more than 8,000 families participating in the IAN Research project who have reported on treatments, 514 (or about 6%) have reported using an animal-assisted therapy or AAT.

Mental Health: This graph displays the results of the IAN study, showing that in 83% of cases, children showed improvement in their symptoms through the use of pet therapy, (equine, animal or pet, or canine therapy)

Mental Health: Aphasia: What it is - loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage To determine whether speech-language AAT is effective for persons with aphasia, results were compared in the WAB scores from Times 2 and 3 and evaluated questionnaire responses from Time 3. While the WAB scores did not change significantly, the questionnaire indicated that all participants believed that they progressed more during the AAT sessions (Table 1). In addition, all participants met or exceeded their therapy goals during the AAT semester, indicating that AAT was effective. High scores on the WAB correlate with good functional communication skills

Mental Health: Western Aphasia Battery Aphasia Quotient scores for each participant before therapy (time 1) after traditional therapy and before animal assisted therapy (AAT) (time 2) and after ATT (time 3)

Mental Health: Animal Assisted Therapy can also help patients with other mental health disorders such as depression and other mood disorders AAT programs are also being implemented into jails to assist in a smoother transition into and out of jail Jail dogs:

Physical Health: Studies show that owning a pet can help with your heart, and over all health: Cat owners are 40% less likely to have a stroke, and 30% less likely to have a heart attack

Physical Health: Dog owners are 3% less likely to die of a heart attack, and 8.6% more likely to live 1 year after a heart attack.

Physical Health: Heart Health: This can be explained because owning a pet keeps you active, dog owners are: Less likely to be obese More likely to be physically fit Better mobility amongst elderly dog owners

Physical Health: Cancer: "A Magical Dream" is an animal therapy program that was instituted for children hospitalized in pediatric oncology to promote their well-being during hospitalization and facilitate their adaptation to the therapeutic process. 16 parents and 12 nurses were surveyed

Physical Health: Cancer: Results: 14 parents and 9 nurses reported that the patients experienced less psychological distress, had a more positive outlook about their upcoming treatments, and had improved general well-being during their hospitalization. These results suggest that patients would be more receptive to treatments because of the presence of animals.

Conclusion: Mental Health: according to the studies discussed, as well as others not mentioned, the presence of animals has a positive effect on mental health, including Autism and Aphasia. Physical Health: according to the studies discussed, as well as others not mentioned, the presence of animals has a positive effect on physical health, mostly because of the positive effects it has on a person’s mental health.

The End

Bibliography: Gagnon, J., Bouchard, F., Landry, M., Belles-Isles, M., Fortier, M., & Fillion, L. (2004, April 14). Implementing a hospital-based animal therapy program for children with cancer: a descriptive study. Retrieved from Ian Interactive Autism Network. (2011, March 8). Ian research findings: Animal-assisted therapies. Retrieved from es Macauley, B. L. (2006). Animal-assisted therapy for persons with aphasia: a pilot study. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 43(3), Retrieved from ONE&sw=w&asid=cdfe9aea74890e55ec4f9ebd6bf5b509 ONE&sw=w&asid=cdfe9aea74890e55ec4f9ebd6bf5b509 Weil, A. (n.d.). Wellness Therapies. Animal Assisted Therapy. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from UYEMURA, B. (n.d.). The Truth About Animal-Assisted Therapy. Psych Central.com. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from therapy/ http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-truth-about-animal-assisted- therapy/