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Animal Exposure, Asthma and Allergies
Contributor(s):: Felicia Trembath
An estimated 62% of all United States households have one or more pet and more than 38% of households with pets have children under the age of 18 (Beck, 2010). Although the total number of pets in the United States does not seem to be increasing (AVMA, 2012), the relationship between people and...
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Animal Welfare in Human-Animal Interactions
Contributor(s):: Myrna Milani
Just as what comprises acceptable welfare in any people involved in human-animal interactions (HAI) represents an amalgam of multiple components that related to multiple disciplines, what comprises the welfare of the animals involved in these same interactions is...
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Animal-Assisted Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Contributor(s):: Marguerite E. O'Haire, Noémie A. Guérin, Alison Claire Kirkham, Courtney L. Daigle
Approximately 1 in 68 children in the United States has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 2014). There is no cure for ASD; therefore, current treatment efforts focus on behavior management and social...
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Animal-Assisted Intervention for People with Cancer
| Contributor(s):: Felicia Trembath
Cancer is one of the most widespread diseases in the modern world, affecting millions of people per year. In the United States alone approximately 1.6 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually, and almost 50% of men and close to 33% of women will develop some form of cancer during their...
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Animal-Assisted Intervention for People with Depression
| Contributor(s):: Felicia Trembath
Depression is a mood disorder characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness, lack of interest in activities, and fatigue. Most people will feel sad or depressed at times, but when these feelings last for weeks and interfere with normal daily activities, it may be a more...
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Animal-Assisted Intervention for Trauma, Including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
| Contributor(s):: Marguerite E. O'Haire, Noémie A. Guérin, Alison Claire Kirkham, Courtney L. Daigle
The inclusion of animals in psychological treatment - known as Animal-Assisted Intervention (AAI) - is a common and widely accepted component of mental healing and therapy. Animals were first incorporated into mental health institution programs during the late eighteenth century to increase...
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Practitioner Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding the Role Animals Play in Human Health
| Contributor(s):: Felicia Trembath
Many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of animals in improving patient outcomes, such as their ability to improve cardiovascular health or alleviate depression symptoms. However, little research has been done to evaluate the beliefs of practitioners about the role that animals can...
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The Effect of Human-Animal Interaction on Human Cardiovascular Health
| Contributor(s):: Felicia Trembath, Emily Patterson-Kane
More than 2,150 Americans die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) daily, an average of 1 death every 40 seconds (Go et al., 2014). In any given year, approximately 620,000 Americans suffer their first coronary attack, and 295,000 have a repeat attack. Even though rates of CVD declined between 2000...
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The Use of Dogs in Hospital Settings
| Contributor(s):: Amy McCullough, Ashleigh Ruehrdanz, Molly Jenkins
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), over 35 million people are hospitalized in the U.S. every year. Many hospitals across the country have incorporated animal programs, such as “animalassisted therapy” (AAT), “animal-assisted activities”...
