The Effects Of Animal Assisted Therapy On The Well Being...

The Effects of â€Å"Animal-assisted Therapy† on the well-being of Residents at a Long-Term Care. 999735559 University of Toronto PSYB01 Professor Nagy July 20, 2015 This study was inspired by â€Å"Ace† the therapy dog Abstract The rationale for this study is developed through personal experience of the researcher at Baycrest and review of past and current research relating to this study. This study looks upon the effect of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) on the psychophysical well-being of elders in long term care. Specifically, it looks at the cortisol or â€Å"stress hormone† before and after exposure two types of occupational therapy conditions with the presence and absence of AAT. Elderly residents from Apotex†¦show more content†¦AAT utilizes trained and certified animals to improve an individual’s well-being in all aspects emotional, physical and social (Sellers, 2004). It is relatively a new treatment and was initially implemented by Boris Levinson in his psychotherapy practice (Perkins et al., 2008). AAT, with its tactile comfort and companionship as well as a mode of social interaction, encourages a positive attitude and eases the negative effect of living in a retirement fac ility (Perkins et al., 2008). Unlike interventions with humans which tends to be judgmental and biased, animals tend to be more friendly and non-judgmental thus, facilitating more sociable behaviors than even more than the well-intentioned staff members (LaFrance et al., 2007). In an elderly home, residents are often found by themselves, with lack of interaction with others. Consequently, this leads to agitation, anxiety and depression which put them into a vicious cycle of lethargy, increased sleeping and minimal interaction. Other rehab activities such as speech, physical and occupational therapy can be repetitive and uneventful (Jackson, D. L., 2006). Unlike other interventions such as reading and listening to music, AAT provides the elders with chance to interact with an animate being (Sellers, 2004). This alters the elders’ environment thus, putting them in state of immediate intimacy creating bridge for the therapist