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Benefits of AAA and AAT Programs
Interactions with animals can provide emotional and physical health
benefits for diverse human populations, including the elderly,
children, physically disabled, deaf, blind, emotionally or physically
ill, and the incarcerated.
By serving as communication catalysts among
residents, healthcare staff, and visitors, animals can socialize
healthcare facilities.
They also may serve as diversions during anxiety
provoking procedures, such as physical examinations. With proper
training, animals can be taught to reinforce rehabilitative behaviors
in patients, such as throwing a ball, walking, or verbal responses.
Hippotherapy (therapeutic horseback riding) has been reported to
improve posture, balance, and coordination. Sense barriers may
interfere with human human interactions and tend to isolate affected
individuals; however, verbal communication and sight are not necessary
for positive interactions with animals and these interactions may
facilitate communication with human handlers or health care providers.
Animals can be included in behavior modification programs as a source
of support and diversion during threatening situations, such as
counseling.
Some therapists have suggested that animals provide a type
of reality therapy (by empathizing with the animal's natural instincts,
patients see their own lives more objectively). The training of animals
provides troubled adolescents and the incarcerated with goals and an
object of contact comfort.
Residential pets provide opportunities for
physical activity or rehabilitation through their need for routine
care, such as the construction of habitats, feeding, grooming, and
exercise.
The responsibility of caring for animals may also provide
residents with a sense of purpose and a perceived need to take better
care of themselves.
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Concerns Related to AAA and AAT Programs
Occasionally program participants become so involved with the animals
that they become possessive of those animals, and an atmosphere of
competition rather than social cooperation develops.
Patients may
perceive that an animal has rejected them, usually because of
unrealistic expectations of the animal's behavior toward them, and this
can exacerbate low self esteem.
Death of an animal may generate intense
feelings of grief and sometimes guilt in patients and staff. Human
injury may result because of inappropriate animal selection, handling,
or lack of supervision; likewise, animals may be abused or accidentally
injured.
Zoonotic diseases may be transmitted if careful veterinary
supervision and sound sanitation practices are not an integral part of
the AAA//AAT program, and participants' potential allergic
reactions to animal dander are always a concern.
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