Interesting Study

Amongst the same article written by Velde, Cipriani and Fisher there was an interesting study which was conducted in a long-term rest home and looked at the residents and if they had benefitted from having animal-assisted therapy introduced to them and if it had improve their quality of life in any way. These residents were participants of occupational therapy already. The residents ranged from having developmental disabilities, physical disabilities and psychiatric disabilities. Ferrese, Forster, Kowalski and Wasilewski (1998) had interviewed the occupational therapist and occupational therapy assistants in Pennsylvania that worked in this rest home to identify if there were any improvements in the residents from using animal-assisted therapy (p.45). It was Morse & Field (1995) who had identified key themes within this study they are:

Motivation is increased with animal interaction

Residents benefit physically from intervention

Animals promote reminiscence and alertness

AAT enhances emotional well-being

Residents display improved social interaction

AAT provides opportunity for nurturing

AAT created a home like environment

(as cited in Velde et al, 2005, p.45)
Garland, Hayik, Hachonis, McDonough & Johnson (1997) had researched the resident’s emotional response to the AAT program. They found four common results from the residents, the included 'brightening your day', 'bringing up memories', 'getting my mind of things', and 'making the family feel better' (as cited in Velde et al, 2005, p.46).
This study helped me gain insight and understanding from a residents perspective of the impact that AAT can have on those who are in long-term residential care. It was also good to find research that is from an occupational therapy perspective. It has been difficult to find information that is related to AAT and OT.
Within this article there was discussion in relation to the connections between AAT and OT. With the knowledge of occupational therapy intervention, AAT can be utilised in conjunction with OT to have a positive outcome for the client. According to Velde et al (2005) "to be occupational therapy, the intervention must focus on the use of meaningful occupations that promote an individual's quality of life" (p.47). Feeding, grooming, socialisation and exericse will all be meaningful occupations that clients carry out during thier daily life.