Training and research production on dog assisted occupational therapy for children with disabilities and/or developmental delay

• Grant number: 19/10680-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: October 23, 2019
• End date: October 22, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Mirela de Oliveira Figueiredo
• Grantee: Mirela de Oliveira Figueiredo
• Host Investigator: Ellen Herlache-Pretzer
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), United States

Abstract

Animal Assisted Therapy (TAA) is the use of an animal as part of the therapeutic process. In TAA interventions are organized by health professionals with determined objectives and periodically evaluated to measure results. In the international context, occupational therapists have incorporated dogs in their interventions for people with disabilities, aiming at skills development, independence and quality of life. Although there is international scientific evidence on the effectiveness of these dogs, in Brazil there is an incipient production of knowledge on this topic, specifically on the performance of occupational therapy with assistance dogs and the child population with disabilities and/or delays. This project aims at conducting a techno-scientific training and the production of research on Dog Assisted Occupational Therapy for children with disabilities and / or developmental delays. To this end, a partnership was established with the occupational therapists profa. Ellen Herlache-Pretzer, Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan, and Melissa Winkle, president of Dogwood Therapy Services and the International Association of Animal Assisted Intervention, New Mexico, for the purpose of one-year follow-up on projects and practices and research. together. The results of this partnership include the acquisition, production and dissemination of knowledge about the potentialities and limitations of the occupational therapeutic process that has a dog as an assistant. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MIRELA DE OLIVEIRA FIGUEIREDO; ANA LUIZA ALEGRETTI; LILIAN MAGALHÃES. Terapia ocupacional assistida por cães: uma revisão de escopo da literatura brasileira. CADERNOS BRASILEIROS DE TERAPIA OCUPACIONAL-BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY, v. 29, 2021-05-14. (19/10680-5)