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Does Anthropomorphism of Dogs Affect Pain Perception in Animal-Assisted Interventions? An Exploratory Study
Contributor(s):: Turner-Collins, Clare, Breitenbecher, Kimberly H.
The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the effects of anthropomorphism of a therapy dog on pain perception during an animal-assisted intervention. Participants were 32 college women who were randomly assigned to the anthropomorphism condition or the control condition. All...
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Turning the Page for Spot: The Potential of Therapy Dogs to Support Reading Motivation Among Young Children
Contributor(s):: Rousseau, Camille Xinmei, Tardif-Williams, Christine Yvette
This study investigated whether dogs might facilitate a context conducive to reading for children when they are faced with a challenging reading passage. A within-subjects design was used to assess children’s motivation to read in two conditions: with a therapy dog and without a therapy dog....
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Dogs in Schools: The Impact of Specific Human–Dog Interactions on Reading Ability in Children Aged 6 to 8 Years
Contributor(s):: Connell, Chantelle G., Tepper, Deanna L., Landry, Oriane, Bennett, Pauleen C.
Dog-assisted educational programs, including reading programs, are becoming an area of research focus, based on claims of various advantages for children. However, while available findings typically indicate benefits for the children involved, the low quality of evidence makes it difficult to...
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Animal-assisted Social Skills Training for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Contributor(s):: Becker, Joanna L., Rogers, Erica C., Burrows, Bethany
Recent research indicates that youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show increases in prosocial behaviors in the presence of animals, yet few studies have examined the effects of incorporating animals into treatments. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of an animal-assisted social...
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A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Psychosocial Outcomes
Contributor(s):: Maujean, Annick, Pepping, Christopher A., Kendall, Elizabeth
The use of animal-assisted interventions (aaIs) to achieve psychological benefits has expanded rapidly over the last few years. However, this is a vastly under-researched area, and the research to date has been largely descriptive, in the form of case studies, or has used only small groups of...
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Persistence during Tasks with Horses in Relation to Social Support, General Self-efficacy and Self-esteem in Adolescents
Contributor(s):: Hauge, Hilde, Kvalem, Ingela L., Enders-Slegers, Marie-José, Berget, Bente, Braastad, Bjarne O.
In young people, interactions with horses may contribute to the development of social skills and self-efficacy. Our aim was to identify relationships between psychological variables and young people's experience of activities with horses. Participants in this study were 13–15-year-old adolescents...
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The effect of dog–human interaction on cortisol and behavior in registered animal-assisted activity dogs
Contributor(s):: Ng, Zenithson Y., Pierce, Bess J., Otto, Cynthia M., Buechner-Maxwell, Virginia A., Siracusa, Carlo, Werre, Stephen R.
The effect of animal-assisted activities (AAA) on the animal participants has been minimally investigated, and the welfare of these animals has been questioned. To enhance our understanding of these animals’ welfare, we measured cortisol collected from serial saliva samples of 15 healthy adult...
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Exploring the influence of pet assisted activities on aggressive behaviour amongs grade R learners
| Contributor(s):: Jani Coetzee
As a grade R teacher in South Africa, the researcher was disturbed by the extent of aggressive behaviour amongst children (aged 4 years to 6 years). Other teachers involved with the same class were of the opinion that the aggressive behaviour had a detrimental effect on their instructional time...
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"Take a Paws" with Therapy Dogs and Make it a Howling Success
| Contributor(s):: Peggy A. Pritchard
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Adolescents' Affective and Physiological Regulation Shape Negative Behavior During Challenging Equine Assisted Learning Activities
| Contributor(s):: Patricia Pendry, Alexa M. Carr, Jaymie L. Vandagriff
This study examined associations between adolescents’ (N = 59; M age = 11.63) diurnal and momentary activity of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis as marked by salivary cortisol, and affective and behavioral responses to their first, mounted equine assisted learning (EAL)...
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Physiological State of Therapy Dogs during Animal-Assisted Activities in an Outpatient Setting
| Contributor(s):: Clark, S. D., Martin, F., McGowan, R. T. S., Smidt, J. M., Anderson, R., Wang, L., Turpin, T., Langenfeld-McCoy, N., Bauer, B. A., Mohabbat, A. B.
Therapy dogs are increasingly being incorporated into numerous clinical settings. However, there are only a handful of studies that have focused on the impact of animal-assisted activity or therapy sessions on the wellbeing of the therapy dogs. Furthermore, these studies show mixed results. The...
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Methodological and Terminological Issues in Animal-Assisted Interventions: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews
| Contributor(s):: Santaniello, A., Dice, F., Claudia Carratu, R., Amato, A., Fioretti, A., Menna, L. F.
Recently, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), which are defined as psychological, educational, and rehabilitation support activities, have become widespread in different contexts. For many years, they have been a subject of interest in the international scientific community and are at the...
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Effect of Dog Presence on Stress Levels in Students under Psychological Strain: A Pilot Study
| Contributor(s):: Machova, K., Prochazkova, R., Vadronova, M., Souckova, M., Prouzova, E.
As university students face many stressful situations, especially during the examination period, this study focused on the use of animal-assisted activities (AAAs) with a dog as a means of relieving students' stress before a final exam. The aim was to determine whether a 10-min interaction with a...
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Focus Hippotherapy
Focus Hippotherapy's mission is to offer therapy from licensed/certified physical and occupational therapists using the horse as a tool to develop strength, balance, posture, muscle tone moderation (relaxation or increased tone), motor planning, body awareness, task focus and confidence.
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Horses Healing the Wounded Warrior: A Qualitative Inquiry of Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy in Treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder for Female Veterans
| Contributor(s):: Rebecca R. Wara-Goss
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major concern for military veterans in the United States and current research on women’s experiences in the military and the effects of their post-military PTSD are limited. Currently, there are a variety of evidence-based and alternative...
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Therapy Dogs of Long Island
Therapy Dogs of Long Island's mission is to use the special connection that exists between dogs and humans as a therapeutic modality. A treatment for both physical and mental conditions in those who would love the company of a dog. To alleviate some pain and suffering to both children and...
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Hope Thru Hooves
Utilizing the unique strength and power of the horse and it’s herd dynamics; our goal is to educate, mentor, empower and strengthen relationship/life skills in people of all ages. Individuals, families, groups and organizations can all benefit from our equine assisted activities.
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Effects of an animal visitation intervention on the depression, loneliness, and quality of life of older people: A randomised controlled study
| Contributor(s):: Chanelle J Buckle
Older people—especially those living in residential facilities—comprise a vulnerable and oftentimes frail, but large and growing subset of the global population. Various age-related and socio-political, -economic, and -environmental factors place the quality of life of older people...
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The effect of an animal-assisted visitation programme on children with intellectual disabilities : a randomised controlled study
| Contributor(s):: Khama Lucille Wyatt
Intellectual disability is a developmental disorder which affects intellectual and adaptive functioning within a social, practical and conceptual domain. This is a lifelong disorder for which no cure exists. Intellectual disability is normally caused by trauma or genetic predispositions. In...
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Parents' and facilitators' perceptions of children with autism spectrum disorder in an equine-assisted learning programme
| Contributor(s):: Megan Butt
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) currently affects an estimated 1:68 children globally and is the second most common disability worldwide. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by abnormal social behaviour, delays in language, sensory processing difficulties and restricted and...
