Holistic Nursing: Animal Assisted Therapy Essay Example

given to an animal once it has been specifically evaluated and registered with one of the national organizations that operate in this capacity. There are two distinctly different applications for therapy dogs. Therapy dogs do NOT operate as specially trained assistance or service dogs that open doors; turn on lights; assist the hearing or visually impaired. This is another higher level of training and assessment.

Therapy dogs do NOT have federally granted legal access to public transportation, airplane cabins or public buildings as is afforded to service dogs. Many different types of animals participate in both AAA and AAT. According to this article, holistic nursing with therapy assisted animals would fall into the AAT division as the pet is used as “a treatment modality in a written, individualized treatment plan with specific, documented goals,” as compared to the AAA where volunteers take pets to the hospitals, nursing homes, and so on (Ouhl, 2007).

In Nurse. Com, stories show how therapy assisted animals are working with severely ill individuals when people cannot reach them regarding emotions and pain. Cathryn Domrose, 2002, wrote an article titled, “Puppy Power,” where it is being discovered by hospitals and nurses that the “benefits of animal-assisted activities and therapy” is amazing. According to the article, the nurses involved are from many backgrounds—researchers, program coordinators, handlers, or frontline caregivers—with a history of 20 years with huge results.

One of the hospitals cited was in the Children’s Hospital in Denver, CO, in the neurosurgery, orthopedics and neurotrauma rehabilitation departments, where the first program to be used with animal therapy was called Prescription , and was initiated to bring together children

and pets in order to see if it was possible for them to form bonds to help the children face the trauma they were going through.

Several researches are being done, mainly due to the high growth rate of successful animal assisted therapy in health care facilities and chronic diseases area. One was done by M. L. Jofre, in 2005, at the Pediatric Department, University of Chili, where it was found that this therapy was considered as a “novel interventional program with important benefits in the management of patients with chronic diseases and prolonged hospitalization” (Jofre, 2007).

A study done by Gagnon et al in the 2005 Canada Oncology Nursing journal looks at children who have been diagnosed with cancer, whose stressors have lead to adverse biopsychosocial effects. This research body formed an animal assisted therapy group called “A Magical Dream” which began with a nursing initiative in 1999, and focused on “documenting the observed connection between participating in the program, quality of care and satisfaction of participating parents and nurses” (Gagnon et al, 2005). The research focus was to

It appears that dog-assisted therapy may contribute to alleviate psychological distress in children and parents, facilitate their adaptation to the therapeutic process, and promote their well-being while hospitalized -- as well-being is inconsistent with the state of emotional distress, animal-assisted therapy may be a beneficial intervention to alleviate distress in the child, his family and caregivers. Conclusion It is said by researchers that the issue of animal assisted therapy is based on applied science, with this science solving a human problem by using an interdisciplinary approach with these specifically trained animals.