Animal Assisted Therapy
ett team i behandling och terapi av barn och unga
The main purpose of this examination paper has been to do a review of recent scientific and evaluated studies performed on children 0-15 years of age, treated with an animal as an assistant to the therapist/professional. The key term is Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). Our focus has been to describe in what fields these kinds of studies have been performed, what the results are and how effective they have been. As a supplement to our study we have performed 8 short telephone interviews with professionals in the same field of occupation corresponding to the studies we have summarized. Our results concerning the studies show that there has been a positive outcome in the treatment of children and adolescents and AAT. This agegroup show an increase in for example; social skills, communication and maintaining focus. The results in our interviews show that there is poor knowledge in the research done in the area of AAT, that AAT is not used in these areas in Stockholm though the interest in the method seems large. As theoretical frameworks we have used the biophilia hypothesis and Winnicotts theory of the transition object.