Are Pets in Hospitals Really Therapeutic?
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monkeybusinessimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — It’s long been assumed that the spirits of hospital patients are lifted when domesticated animals are brought in to comfort them.
However, psychologists from Australia’s University of Adelaide says there haven’t been adequate studies done to prove the exact therapeutic value of this practice, which began about 50 years ago.
Lead author Anna Chur-Hansen, chief of Adelaide’s School of Psychology, says of the so-called “human-animal bond”: “No one can truly say what the benefits are, how they work, or whether such a situation causes problems or distress — or the exact opposite — for the animals themselves.”
Among the questions researchers are asking is if it’s better be visited by one’s own pet or someone else’s pet in the hospital; how safe it is to have dogs or cats around kids; and the actual effect on the animals themselves.
It’s the hope of the researchers to come up with answers that will allow them to establish guidelines agreeable to both health care officials and animal support groups.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio