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Social Work, Animal-Assisted Therapies and Ethical Considerations: A Programme Example from Central Queensland, Australia.

Animals are increasingly being used in a range of social work settings and extant research demonstrates they can offer a wide range of benefits to humans. With other professions, social work is oriented towards caring for people but does not officially recognise (non-human) animals. Given the rise i...

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Published in:British Journal of Social Work Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 135 - 153
Main Authors: Taylor, Nik, Fraser, Heather, Signal, Tania, Prentice, Kathy
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Oxford University Press / USA Jan2016
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      jtl: British Journal of Social Work
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      dt: Jan2016
      vid: 46
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      pub: Oxford University Press / USA
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        10.1093/bjsw/bcu115
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        atl: Social Work, Animal-Assisted Therapies and Ethical Considerations: A Programme Example from Central Queensland, Australia.
      aug:
        au:
          Taylor, Nik
          Fraser, Heather
          Signal, Tania
          Prentice, Kathy
        affil: School of Social and Policy Studies, Flinders University, SA 5001, Australia
      sug:
        subj:
          Social Work Queensland
          Pet Therapy Ethical Issues
          Child Abuse, Sexual Therapy
          Child Abuse, Sexual Prevention and Control
          Human
          Queensland
          Housing
          Government Programs
          Quasi-Experimental Studies
          Child Behavior Checklist
          Checklists
          Questionnaires
          Female
          Male
          Child
          Repeated Measures
          Analysis of Variance
          Sample Size
          Social Work
          Child: 6-12 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Animals are increasingly being used in a range of social work settings and extant research demonstrates they can offer a wide range of benefits to humans. With other professions, social work is oriented towards caring for people but does not officially recognise (non-human) animals. Given the rise in animal-related interventions and emergence of veterinary social work, we argue that this needs to change. We recognise that obstacles to change include social work's history of dichotomising (or falsely dividing) humans from animals, and focusing exclusively on human experiences of social problems (such as poverty). Using a programme example of a canine-assisted therapy project for child sexual abuse victims/survivors in Bundaberg (Central Queensland, Australia), we consider some of the ethical and practical issues associated with animal-assisted therapies (AATs). We examine whether AATs can benefit both humans and animals by positively changing people's attitudes and behaviours towards animals. We argue that the ethical legitimacy of AATs rests on their willingness to understand animals as sentient beings with needs of their own, not just possessions or tools for humans to use.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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