Canine-Assisted Interventions

A Comprehensive Guide to Credentialing Therapy Dog Teams

John-Tyler Binfet, Elizabeth Kjellstrand Hartwig

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138338302
• eBook ISBN: 9780429789809
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Covering principles of therapy dog team training, assessment, skills, and ongoing monitoring, Canine-Assisted Interventions provides guidance on the most evidence-based methods for therapy dog team welfare, training, and assessment.

The authors offer a linear approach to understanding all aspects of the screening, assessment, and selection of dog-handler teams by exploring the journey of dog therapy teams from assessment of canines and handlers to the importance of ongoing monitoring, recredentialing, and retirement. In addition to reviewing key findings within the field of human-animal interactions, each chapter emphasizes skills on both the human and dog ends of the leash and makes recommendations for research-informed best practices. To support readers, the book culminates with checklists and training resources to serve as a quick reference for readers.

This book will be of great interest for practitioners, in-service professionals, and researchers in the fields of canine-assisted interventions and counseling.

1 Introduction

Figure 1.1An employee at a local police precinct connects with therapy dog Nava from UBC’s B.A.R.K. program.

Whether you’re a community volunteer, program director, potential client to a session, or researcher, you’ve picked up this book because of your interest in canine-assisted interventions (CAIs, or what you might call “canine-assisted therapy”) and the potential it has to support a variety of well-being outcomes. Our aim in writing this book is to provide evidence-based, current information on all aspects of working with therapy dogs—from screening and assessment procedures through credentialing and retirement. In addition to reviewing key findings within the field of human-animal interactions (HAIs), each chapter showcases innovative work in the field and makes recommendations for research-informed best practices.

As professionals working in the field of HAI, we’ve seen firsthand the benefits that therapy dogs provide to a variety of clients in a range of contexts. Our work has been fueled by clients who, when gently petting a therapy dog, look up with tear-filled eyes and say, “Thank you.” As researchers investigating the effects of CAI, we understand the importance of designing studies and using methodologies that contribute to the evidence attesting to the power of therapy dogs to effect positive change in people’s lives—to boost well-being. We understand the importance of training protocols for handlers and practitioners, of the duration of interventions, and of both qualitative and quantitative research designs that help discover findings to advance the field. One aim in writing this book is to enhance practice, and within each chapter, we’ll illustrate, in applied ways, the steps involved in supporting and enacting CAIs. In short, we want to encourage the advancement of CAIs through sharing evidence-based findings to inform best practices.

The Surge in Popularity of CAIs

The field of CAIs is certainly dynamic, and the early founders of this approach to supporting human well-being would undoubtedly be surprised at its current popularity and growth. Whereas historically we might have seen one therapy dog and handler volunteer to support the well-being of a senior citizen in a retirement care facility, we now see therapy dogs in programs supporting a wide array of clients. This includes but is not limited to CAI teams volunteering in the following contexts (see Table 1.1).

We also see dogs working alongside professionals in the following contexts (see Table 1.2).

The rapid expansion that now sees therapy dogs placed in a variety of public settings has raised concerns among researchers and practitioners alike, as the research attesting to the benefits of this approach hasn’t caught up to the surge in popularity. That is, you have organizations implementing CAIs in an expansive assortment of contexts to support a wide variety of clients, yet the research supporting these practices is lagging. In fact, and at the time of our writing this book, in reviewing the list just presented illustrating the varied contexts within which we find CAIs implemented, a review of the extant psychological, anthrozoological, and veterinary research reveals peer-reviewed findings attesting to the benefits of therapy dogs within less than half of these contexts.

Table 1.1CAIs Across Volunteer Contexts

Setting	Clients	Target Outcome(s)	Applied Example	Peer-Reviewed Evidence
Airport	Travelers	Reduce stress and anxiety	www.fodors.com/news/photos/12-north-american-airports-where-you-can-pet-a-therapy-dog	No evidence found
College campus	College students	Reduce stress, anxiety, and homesickness	www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/therapy-dogs-ease-stress-college-students_us_5b84d6f3e4b0511db3d10b98	Barker, Barker, McCain, & Schubert (2016) Binfet (2017) Binfet, Passmore, Cebry, Struik, and McKay (2018) Grajfoner, Harte, Potter, and McGuigan (2017) Ward-Griffin et al. (2018)
Crisis center	Crime victims	Reassure and comfort crime victims	www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/a-new-program-pairing-child-abuse-victims-with-dogs-helps-with-healing/Content?oid=3061085	No evidence found
Dental office	Pediatric dental patients	Reduce anxiety during visit	www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2015-archive/may/pediatric-dentist-shares-dental-therapy-dog-success-story	Nammalwar & Rangeeth (2018) Schwartz & Patronek (2002)
Elementary school	Children	Improve reading skills and confidence	www.tdi-dog.org/OurPrograms.aspx?Page=Children+Reading+to+Dogs	Connell, Tepper, Landry, and Bennett (in press) Kirnan, Siminerio, and Wong (2016) Kirnan, Ventresco, and Gardner (2017) Le Roux, Swartz, and Swart (2014) Linder, Mueller, Gibbs, Alper, and Freeman (2018)
Fire station	Firefighters	Reduce stress	www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/os-ne-ocfr-first-therapy-dog-20190211-story.html	No evidence found
Funeral home	Grieving families	Reduce grief	www.therapydogs.com/therapy-dogs-offer-comfort-funeral-services/	No evidence found
Homeless shelter	Homeless individuals	Reduce tension among residents within the facility	https://globalnews.ca/news/3997811/montreal-homeless-shelter-uses-therapy-dog-to-bring-comfort/	No evidence found
Hospital	Inpatients and outpatients	Reduce stress, facilitate pain management, and improve hemodynamics	www.usnews.com/news/beststates/oklahoma/articles/2019-02-04/therapy-dogs-bring-smiles-pain-relief-to-lawton-hospital www.cbc.ca/news/health/pet-therapy-dogs-1.4952949	Chubak et al. (2017) Cooley & Barker (2018) Harper, Dong, Thornhill, Wright, & Ready (2015) Kline, Fisher, Pettit, Linville, and Beck (2019)
Law office	Legal clients	Assist lawyers with mediation between clients	www.petguide.com/blog/dog/therapy-dogs-helping-lawyers-mediate-divorces/	No evidence found
Long-term care facility	Elderly residents	Improve mood and cognitive functioning and reduce depression	www.westhawaiitoday.com/2019/01/23/hawaii-news/here-comes-riley-therapy-dog-brings-comfort-and-smiles-to-life-care-center-of-kona/	Lutwack-Bloom, Wijewickrama & Smith (2005) Thodberg et al. (2016)
Medical settings	Medical residents/ nursing students	Reduce stress	www.studyinternational.com/news/college-introduces-therapy-dogs-reduce-medical-students-stress/	Crossman, Kazdin, and Knudson (2015) Delgado, Toukonen, and Wheeler (2018) Norton, Funaro, & Rojiani (2018)
Military base	Service members	Facilitate openness to communicate personal health issues	www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1756663/army-therapy-dog-visits-maintenance-airmen/	No evidence found
Police department/precinct	Police officers	Reduce stress and boost well-being within the precinct	www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/gazette/k9-comfort?gz	Binfet, Draper, & Green (in press)
Public library	Children	Foster reading interest and motivation, and improve literacy skills	www.kltv.com/2019/02/14/paws-reading-program-success-longview-library/	Hughes (2002) For a review see Newlin (2003)
Public tragedies/disaster relief	Victims and mourners	Provide comfort to victims and mourners after a public tragedy	www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/os-care-dog-pulse-night-club-20160617-story.html www.ctvnews.ca/canada/therapy-dogs-providing-comfort-after-toronto-van-attack-1.3907322	No evidence found For a review see Shubert (2012)
Recovery center	Clients struggling with addiction	Help in addiction recovery	www.rehabcenter.net/therapy-dogs-helpful-in-addiction-rehabilitation/	Contalbrigo et al. (2017) Kelly and Cozzolino (2015) Wesley, Minatrea, and Watson (2009)
Safe house/recovery center	Women and children	Provide comfort	www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/community/therapy-dog-has-2000-service-hours-to-credit/	No evidence found

Table 1.2CAIs Across Professional Contexts

Setting	Clients	Target Outcome	Applied Example	Peer-Reviewed Evidence
Audiology ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Boxes
• Meet the Authors
• 1 Introduction
• 2 What Are Canine-Assisted Interventions?
• 3 What Makes a Strong and Effective Canine-Assisted Intervention Team?
• 4 Safeguarding the Welfare of Clients and Therapy Dogs
• 5 Best Practices in Canine-Assisted Intervention Team Training
• 6 Canine-Assisted Counseling: Preparing Teams for Clinical Work
• 7 Canine-Assisted Intervention Team Assessment
• 8 Assessment Considerations for Specialized Contexts
• 9 Credentialing, Recredentialing, and Retirement
• 10 Future Directions in Canine-Assisted Interventions
• Appendix A: Canine-Assisted Intervention Team Screening Form
• Appendix B: Canine Health Screening Form
• Appendix C: Canine-Assisted Counseling Skills Checklist
• Appendix D: Canine-Assisted Intervention Team Assessment
• Index