Chapter 7: Animal-Assisted Intervention and Professional Practice

Title - Chapter 7: Animal-Assisted Intervention and Professional Practice

Description of content: This chapter provides an overview of different types of animal-assisted interventions and their definitions, their history and purpose. Having introduced standard definitions of the main fields within AAI (i.e., Animal-Assisted Activity, Animal-Assisted Therapy and Animal-Assisted Education), we  highlight benefits as well as potential risks involved in AAI and include discussion of recent results in the field. We embed our overview and discussion in theories addressing how and why AAI may work. We will furthermore address questions of scientific rigour, and provide recommendations for best practice in AAI, including safety and welfare of all involved and highlight the need for internationally accepted and recognised standards and guidelines for AAI professionals.