erapy in psychiatric populations. In an effort to provide some insight regarding psychiatric populations, Draper, Gerber and Layng (1990) examined the role and effectiveness of therapy dogs in pet-facilitated therapy as revealed in 90 videotaped observations of interactions between therapists and ten psychiatric patients in a psychiatric teaching hospital in Ontario.
Patients in the study were suffering from diverse disorders including: dementia, posttraumatic brain syndrome, and mental retardation. Rating scales were developed to generate numerical values for statistical analysis. Blind ratings yielded high interrater correlations indicated a strong degree of validity for observations.
Analyses revealed that all patients showed various degrees of positive reaction to the animal. According to the authors, results from this pilot study indicated the feasibility of designing definitive studies to evaluate claims of animal therapy in treating mental and emotional illness.
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