Animal-Assisted Therapy Saves Lives. Just look at the research!

Dogs are increasingly incorporated into therapeutic settings with the goal of improving mental and physical health. Due to the importance of pets in our society, the government and major research programs are paying more attention to them. In 2008, the National Institutes of Health and the WALTHAM® Centre for Pet Nutrition External Web Site Policy, a division of Mars, Inc., entered into a public-private partnership and started a research initiative to formally investigate whether animals can influence human health and happiness.

🐾 Research on the impact of animal and human bond (Human–Animal Interaction Research).  The science of Human–Animal Interaction (HAI) seeks to understand how our relationships with animals can influence both human and animal health. The existing research in animal-assisted programs has demonstrated promising findings. Some studies have shown that animal-assisted interventions can help reduce anxiety, loneliness, and pain; as well as affect physiological measures of stress such as blood pressure, and heart rate in a variety of patient populations. However, this scientific evidence is not strong in all areas of health.

It is widely accepted that animals can play a role in the physical and social health of some humans, although the mechanisms by which they do this remain uncertain. Despite the increase of studies published in the past 30 years, the majority of the research on human-animal interactions has been limited by the lack of standardized, rigorous scientific methodologies.

There are numerous opportunities for improving the scope, depth, and quality of the research on human-animal interactions and health.  As such, this field has the potential for significant growth and to increase our understanding of how animals can impact patients in ways that may support meaningful changes to policy and practice in the future.