Sweden is often seen as a welfare state where children can grow up in safe circumstances. However, social support for children who are at risk of social exclusion has been shown to be lacking. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is an alternative intervention within the field of social work, though it is still in its infancy. Existing research evidence suggests that AAT can generate positive results, especially for individuals who have low engagement in other types of treatment. This study examines how AAT is used within the field of social work with children and young people. Seven professionals who employ AAT in their work with children and young people were interviewed. The interviews were interpreted through Antonovsky’s theory Sense of Coherence (SOC). Results show that the animal is seen to increase motivation for the child to partake in the treatment. The therapeutic alliance that is created through the presence of the animal can be helpful in increasing the child’s SOC and the surrounding environment can also play a significant part.

The Introduction to Equine Assisted Family Therapy course offered at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) provides Master’s and Doctoral level student therapists the opportunity to learn how to conduct an equine session and how to utilize horses as part of the therapeutic process. Students learn about the underlying theories and framework behind the equine activities and methodology, as well as participate in the equine activities themselves. For the purpose of this study, classroom discussions centered around processing the students’ experiences and were further enriched by viewing photographs and videos that had been taken of the students conducting the equine activities. The researcher utilized IPR as a qualitative methodology to create an improved perspective where students reflected on their experience and made connections with their professional and personal developments. The findings of this grounded theory study document how students reflected on their personal and clinical development. More specifically, the transcripts of the conversations that took place during class discussions and interviews from students who took the course a year earlier showed that students reflected on their personal awareness, created changes in their relationships, developed their self of the therapist, honed in on their clinical skills and started viewing therapy differently. This study confirmed the transformative nature that the Introduction to Equine Assisted Therapy course has on the students.

The aim with this research is to present children with autism an alternative method through animal assisted therapy to communicate and socialize. Since children with autism cannot be guided to mastery of full maturity by means of the ordinary education system, separate provision of highly specialized fomative and formal education is essential. Autism prevents a child from reaching out to the world and other people. Autism implies a lack of communication with others and entails a disturbed dialogue with the world. This is revealed by the strange and odd behaviour of the child with autism. The aim of this research is to use animal assited therapy to bridge the gap between numerous problems experienced by the child with autism ascribed to his inadequate affective life, inablitity to form relationships with others, his language, speech and communication problems and poor sensory integration. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

This dissertation employs a case study research design and reviews literature from the field of animal assisted therapy (AAT) with an emphasis on equine facilitated psychotherapy (EFP), as a possible therapeutic alternative for treating inappropriate aggressive behaviour in a young boy. The research suggests that Horse Whispering can indeed be regarded as a viable therapeutic technique when intent on breaking the aggressive behaviour cycle. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

Syftet med pilotstudien var att undersöka hur klienter som deltog i hästunderstödd behandling (n = 13) till följd av psykisk ohälsa såg på relationen till hästen och dess anknytningsfrämjande och alliansskapande egenskaper, samt i vilken utsträckning respondenterna hade ett auktoritärt förhållningssätt gentemot hästen. För jämförelse användes en grupp fritidsryttare (n = 23). Klientgruppen rekryterades genom intresseföreningen Organisationen för Hästunderstödda Insatser (OHI) och fritidsryttargruppen från två ridskolor. Deltagarna fick genomföra en enkät med frågor avseende anknytningsfrämjande kvaliteter i relationen till hästen, samt vilka relationsskapande egenskaper de ansåg hästen besitta. Resultatet indikerade att båda grupperna i hög utsträckning såg positiva egenskaper i hästen och såg relationen till hästen som positiv. Resultaten indikerade att klientgruppen i högre utsträckning såg egenskaper och relationella kvaliteter i hästen som kan ses som anknytningsfrämjande och alliansskapande. Fritidsryttargruppen uppgav i högre utsträckning ett auktoritärt förhållningssätt gentemot hästen. Trots det begränsade urvalet och att resultatet inte genomgående var entydigt, tolkas resultaten som att det finns belägg för vidare utforskning av ämnet och undersökning av frågeställningen för ett större urval med en reviderad kvantitativ enkät då pilotstudien fann signifikanta skillnader mellan grupperna. / The purpose of this pilot study was to explore clients undertaking equine assisted treatment for mental illness (n = 13) view of the horses attachment and working alliance facilitating abilities. Further, the study aimed to explore to which extent the respondents viewed themselves as being authoritative in relation to the horse. For comparison a group of recreational equestrians (n = 23) were used. The respondents in the client group were recruited from the association Organisationen för Hästunderstödda Insatser (OHI) and the recreational equestrians were recruited from two riding schools. The participants undertook a survey with questions regarding attachment facilitating qualities in their relationship with the horse, and which relationship facilitating characteristics they experienced in the horse. The results indicated that the respondents in both groups over all viewed the horses’ characteristics and their relationship with the horse as positive. The results indicated that the client group to a higher extent regarded the horse as having characteristics and relational qualities that could be viewed as alliance and attachment facilitating. The recreational equestrians reported an authoritative approach toward the horse to a larger degree than the client group. Although there were limitations regarding the size of the sample, and coherence in the results, the results indicated that there are grounds for future research of the subject and research question at hand, with the use of a larger population and a revised survey, as the pilot study did find significant differences between the groups.

SUMMARY: This thesis deals with canine assisted therapy as a support in the development of social skills and communication of children with autism spectrum disorder and is based on the professional literature and analysis of the therapy's influence on the development of personality in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The introduction describes autism spectrum disorders, emphasising their social characteristics and communication of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The second part deals with canine assisted therapy, its methods and forms, as well as, its specific pedagogical use. The third part of the thesis studies the case of a boy with autism spectrum disorder who regularly attended canine assisted therapy. This thesis uses the following methodology: analysis of professional literature, participant observation, informal interview, questionnaire, video analysis and the case study data analysis. This thesis concludes in the finding that canine assisted therapy supports the development of social skills and non-verbal communication of children with autism spectrum disorder. The support of canine assisted therapy in the development of verbal communication of children with autism spectrum disorder was not proven. The results gained in this thesis may contribute to a more frequent use of...

Therapeutic horseback riding is one of the most popular and the most used form of animal based therapy. The term "therapeutic horseback riding" itself is very broad and it consists of four basic branches. The most used, yet least described, is the branch that has been called "pedagogical-psychological horseback riding therapy" since 2011. This branch is further divided into two sub-branches, Equine assisted psychotherapy and Horse-based activities. These two sub-branches overlap each other and are usually conducted together. With school-age children they are mostly used in cases of behavioral disorders and ADHD. The goal of the thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods with children diagnosed as such. The research was realized in "Stredisko hyporehabilitace Pirueta" which operates within the Mental Hospital in Havlickuv Brod. The method of the research was observation of five subjects within the one complete therapy unit. At the beginning and at the end of the unit the tutors of the subjects were given observational scale, which served as supplementary technique for diagnostics. Data obtained from own observation and the data gained from observational scaled matched each other approximately in 90%. During the therapy unit all the subjects improved in areas of self-confidence, self-...

This diploma thesis deals with the use of canistherapy in the special education practise. It records the development, methods, forms and type sof canistherapy, included risks and benefits of this psychoterapeutic method. The research parts maps the relationship between the education of dog handlers and the quality of their fieldwork.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:12:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 camila.pdf: 1754083 bytes, checksum: 276e801339ef844d3eac988084310098 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / INTRODUCTION: By sharing our routines with animals, they became part of our culture when start to occupy different roles, besides the company. Currently, due to the benefits not restricted to common sense, but also listed from scientific research, they are in clinics, hospitals, schools and many others institutions. These studies gave itself two ways to call procedures involving animals with the purpose of taking care of human health: animal-assisted activities (AAA) and animal-assisted therapy (AAT) (DELTA SOCIETY, 2006) OBJECTIVE:Investigating the possible effects of the interaction speech therapyst-patient-dog in the operation of patients language with disturbances of language. The event set in the possibility of the device animal, in speech therapy setting, enhance the therapeutic process. METHOD: Clinical-quality research, developed in study of clinical cases mode. The ethical standards for research with humans and animals were obey.Casuistry: Three subjects, from sample unintentional: Jonas, 12; 0 years, male, with difficulties in writing / reading language; Lucas, 8; 0 years, male with school´s complaints related to difficulties in the written / reading language, summed the dismotivation for learning; Pedro, 4; 0 years, male with phonological changes that lead to segments of unintelligible speech, as well as complaints related to aggressive behavior. The animal participant was a dog without defined race (SDR), seven years old, female, selected in accordance with the criteria proposed by Aiello (DOTTI, 2005). Procedure: The clinical material was recorded in writing regularly and the sessions were recorded on digital camera bimonthly. The interpretation of the data came from theoretical benchmarks of anthropology, speech therapy, psychoanalysis and AAT. RESULTS: The AAT favored the interaction between therapist / patient, intensified the activity dialogical (LaFRANCE et al, 2007) the motivation to write and to read, the reduction of the problems manifest in writing (replacements / omissions grafemics, junction / separation misuse of words); besides mobilize the affectivity of the patients.CONCLUSION: The introduction of AAT as a therapeutic device shown to be effective in clinical cases studied. It is suggested therefore that the Speech Therapy participate more actively in this field of study, since the results corroborate the findings of research that suggests the effectiveness of AAT in various therapeutic environments / INTRODUÇÃO: Ao compartilhar nossas rotinas com os animais, estes passaram a fazer parte de nossa cultura ao ocupar diferentes papéis, para além da companhia. Atualmente, devido aos benefícios não restritos ao senso comum, mas também elencados a partir de pesquisas científicas, eles habitam consultórios, hospitais, escolas e instituições diversa. Desses estudos originaram-se duas formas de denominar procedimentos que envolvem animais com o objetivo de cuidar da saúde humana: atividade assistida por animais (AAA) e terapia assistida por animais (TAA) (DELTA SOCIETY, 2006). OBJETIVO: Investigar os possíveis efeitos da interação fonoaudiólogo-paciente-cão no funcionamento da linguagem de pacientes com distúrbios de linguagem. A hipótese configurou-se na possibilidade do dispositivo animal, no setting fonoaudiológico, potencializar o processo terapêutico. MÉTODO: Pesquisa de natureza clínico-qualitativa, desenvolvida na modalidade estudo de casos clínicos. As normas éticas para pesquisa com seres humanos e animais foram obedecidas. Casuística: três sujeitos, a partir de amostra não intencional: Jonas, 12;0 anos, sexo masculino, com dificuldades na linguagem escrita/leitura. Lucas, 8;0 anos, sexo masculino com queixas escolares relacionadas a dificuldades na linguagem escrita/leitura, somadas a desmotivação para aprendizagem. Pedro, 4;0 anos, sexo masculino com alterações fonológicas que levam a segmentos ininteligíveis de fala, além de queixas relacionadas ao comportamento agressivo, O animal participante foi um cão sem raça definida (SDR), sete anos, fêmea, selecionado de acordo com os critérios propostos por Aiello (DOTTI, 2005). Procedimento: O material clínico foi registrado por escrito regularmente e as sessões foram gravadas em câmera digital bimestralmente. A interpretação dos dados ocorreu a partir de referenciais teóricos da antropologia, fonoaudiologia, psicanálise e TAA. RESULTADOS: A TAA favoreceu a interação terapeuta/paciente, intensificou a atividade dialógica (LaFRANCE et al, 2007) a motivação para escrever e ler, a diminuição dos problemas manifestos na escrita (substituições/omissões grafêmicas, junção/separação indevida de palavras); além de mobilizar a afetividade dos pacientes. CONCLUSÃO: A introdução da TAA como dispositivo terapêutico mostrou-se eficaz nos casos clínicos estudados. Sugere-se, portanto, que a Fonoaudiologia participe mais ativamente desse campo de estudos, já que os resultados obtidos corroboram os achados de pesquisas que apontam a eficácia da TAA em ambientes terapêuticos diversos

The aim with this research is to present children with autism an alternative method through animal assisted therapy to communicate and socialize. Since children with autism cannot be guided to mastery of full maturity by means of the ordinary education system, separate provision of highly specialized fomative and formal education is essential. Autism prevents a child from reaching out to the world and other people. Autism implies a lack of communication with others and entails a disturbed dialogue with the world. This is revealed by the strange and odd behaviour of the child with autism. The aim of this research is to use animal assited therapy to bridge the gap between numerous problems experienced by the child with autism ascribed to his inadequate affective life, inablitity to form relationships with others, his language, speech and communication problems and poor sensory integration. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)