Attitudes to animal‐assisted therapy with farm animals among health staff and farmers

Abstract

Green care is a concept that involves the use of farm animals, plants, gardens or the landscape in cooperation with health institutions for different target groups of clients. The present study aimed at examining psychiatric therapists' (n = 60) and farmers' (n = 15) knowledge, experience and attitudes to Green care and animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with farm animals for people with psychiatric disorders. Most respondents had some or large knowledge about Green care, but experience with Green care was generally low in both groups. Both farmers and therapists believed that AAT with farm animals could contribute positively to therapy to a large or very large extent, with farmers being significantly more positive. Most of the therapists thought that AAT with farm animals contributes to increased skills in interactions with other humans, with female therapists being more positive than males. Two-thirds of the therapists believed that AAT with farm animals to a large extent could contribute better to mental health than other types of occupational therapy. There were no differences in attitudes to AAT between psychiatrists/psychologists and psychiatric nurses. This study confirms the marked potential of offering AAT services with farm animals for psychiatric patients by documenting positive attitudes to it among psychiatric therapists.

Mental health rehabilitation in a care farm context: A descriptive review of Norwegian intervention studies

“…Most commonly, these are group activities, but they should always be adapted to each individual participant's mental and physical needs. Several studies on care farming highlight group participation, the social setting, and the farmer's supportive supervision as important [20][21][22][23]. Furthermore, earlier qualitative studies have described care farming programs as a suitable transition between marginalization related to illness and inclusion in society [22,24].…”

Validación del Cuestionario de Actitudes ante las Intervenciones Asistidas por Perros (CAINTAP) en Estudiantes Universitarios del Sur de España: Beneficios y Temores Percibidos

“…En cuanto a las variables personales que pueden influir sobre la actitudes hacia las IAA, sólo el sexo del respondiente contó con apoyo empírico en la literatura previa, en la que son descritas expectativas más positivas en mujeres que en varones (Berget et al, 2008;Berget y col., 2011). Otras variables de interés estudiadas, como la experiencia con animales domésticos y/o de granja, la experiencia en intervenciones asistidas, el interés por participar en IAA o la profesión desempeñada no han mostrado una relación consistente en la literatura previa (Berget y col., 2011; López-Cepero, Perea-Mediavilla, Sarasola y Tejada, 2015; Moody et al, 2002;Perea-Mediavilla, López-Cepero, Tejada y Sarasola, 2014).…”

Animal-Assisted Interventions; Effects on Human Mental Health - A Theoretical Framework

“…A qualitative study among 13 psychotherapists using AAT with dogs, found that the majority of the therapists ranked anxiety disorders as one of the diagnoses that profited most on AAT (Mason & Hagan, 1999). Another study by Berget et al (2008b) examining 60 psychiatric therapists' knowledge, experience and attitudes to Green care and AAT with farm animals for people with psychiatric disorders, showed that most of the therapists thought that AAT with farm animals contributed to increased skills in interactions with other humans. Two-thirds of the therapists believed that AAT with farm animals to a large extent could contribute better to mental health than other types of occupational therapy.…”