Service Animals and Pet Therapy in Schools: Synthesizing a Review of the Literature

Abstract

As the academic and social-emotional needs of students in schools continue to increase, so too does the presence of dogs in educational spaces. This article aims to present an overview of past and present animal-assisted intervention practices in school settings. This comprehensive literature review examines the current state of research within this field of study. Data from 29 publications were selected according to strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results highlight three categories in which the presence of dogs in schools have an impact: social-emotional, cognitive, and physiological. Challenges to program implementation include health risks, cultural context, and negative effects on the animal. Due to the lack of school-based research, more study is needed, especially in order to understand the effect of dogs on the social-emotional learning of students. Finally, the welfare and training of the animals involved should be taken into consideration, and regulations regarding handler and animal training should be enforced.

Dog Assisted Activities and Their Effect on the Depression of Elementary Students

“…Moreover, the presence of a dog in a school environment may contribute to making students feel less stressed, facilitate the process of learning and promote communication and cooperation among students (Abat-Roy, 2021;Katcher, 2002;Kruger & Serpell, 2010;Maujean et al, 2015;Triebenbacher, 1998). Dog Assisted Activity (DAA) programmes are an AAI category that appears to be beneficial to children as the programmes seem to contribute to the improvement of their psychological status (Brelsford et al, 2017;Endenburg & Baarda, 1995;Flynn et al, 2022).…”