Comparison of client-professional interactions within sessions of interventions assisted or not by animal
Abstract
An animal assisted intervention (AAI) is a goal oriented intervention that intentionally includes animals in health, education and human service for the purpose of gains in humans. Animals could act as catalysts for human social interactions: they could elicit social interactions. However, to our knowledge, no study was done about client-professional interactions in AAI. The aim of this study was to characterize these interactions in two types of interventions: assisted or not by an animal in order to compare them. The hypothesis was that client-professional interactions were more frequent and the client’s visual attention was more turned to the professional, in the presence of an animal. For that, an ethological approach was used. Behaviours of nine children with typical development (8.2 ± 1.5 years) were observed using scan and focal sampling. Two interventions in the same pedagogic farm were compared: one involving a horse, the other involving musical instruments. Contrary to our hypothesis, children’s attention toward the professional, answers to general solicitations and smiles directed to the professional were less observed in the animal presence. During AAI, the professional spent more time near the children.We suppose that the horse had attracted children’s attention, so having an effect on client-professional interactions but other factors may have influenced those results, such as the situation novelty. This study provided a first approach to the characterization of social interactions between professional and children in AAI. It could be applied to all animal associated activities, giving the professional an objective assessment of their practice.