Limitations of Animal-Assisted Therapy

Some limitations that I have identified in relation to AAT would be:

>Whether or not the patients and clients have allergies or if those around them have allergies and to certain types of animals. This would be a limitation because if that client had enjoyed engaging with the animal and their room-mate had allergies then this could potentially reduce the amount of visitation the client and animal could have together and to further the individual’s recovery.
>Another limitation could possibly be the protocols and regulations around bringing animals in a hospital, hospice and respite care setting. Bringing an animal in these settings could potentially put the patient’s health and others at risk.
>Third limitation would be whether or not the individuals would want to connect and engage with the animals bought into their setting.

A limitation that Cowling (2010) has identified was the severity of the patient's dementia. She also mentioned the individual's level of cognition functioning could impact the patient's outcome of the AAT sessions (p.89). Another point made by Cowling was the fact if the patients had any previous experience with animals. If they have already had a connection or a good memory of an animal they are more likely to be engaged and enjoy the animal-assisted therapy visits. Cowling (2010) stated "it is likely that a person's previous engagement with animals affects their reaction to AAT" (p.89). They may perceive them in either a negative or positive way. If they have had a negative experience with an animal then they are likely to not want to engage in AAT. So even though there are a number of positives for using AAT with mental health patients there is also a number of negatives and limitations that go along with those positives.


Future Recommendations :
Velde (2005) stated the need to develop occupation-based assessments related to animal-assisted therapy (p. 48). From researching and gathering a better understanding of animal assisted therapy I have found there is little evidence based practice and research related to occupational therapy and animal assisted therapy. This will mean that there is a need to further develop in this area.
Palley (2010) stated "AAT research agenda should expand to include basic studies exploring the neurological mechanism(s) underlying human-animal interactions that result in positive moods and putative health effects (p.205).
Over in countries like America and England and some parts of Europe, animal-assisted therapy is more common and they have set up training programs to train therapist in this type of therapy. They have been training those who are willing to use animals in their work in counselling, physical rehabilitation and education. Just like Occupational Therapy, animal-assisted therapy " is still struggling to define itself and gain credibility (Kruger & Serpell, 2010, p. 34). Occupational Therapy I would say is better known than animal-assisted therapy but not in the same league as physiotherapists, speech therapists, and nurses.