Open AccessPodrška i pomoć obiteljima djece s teškoćama u razvoju
Author(s) -
Mia Lakatoš,
Lucija Vejmelka
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
hrvatska revija za rehabilitacijska istraživanja/hrvatska revija za rehabilitacijska istraživanja
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.182
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1848-7734
pISSN - 1331-3010
DOI - 10.31299/hrri.53.1.3
Subject(s) - thematic analysis , medicine , qualitative research , emotional support , psychology , family medicine , social support , psychotherapist , sociology , social science
Therapy dogs, which play a central role in animal-assisted therapy, are trained to support daily activities and promote development of children and young people with disabilities. This qualitative study involved semi structured interviews in September 2016 with seven parents of children with disabilities who use therapy dogs. The interview, which was designed specifically for the purposes of this study, collected data on the types of social support and assistance that the therapy dogs provided, as well as the challenges that the use of such dogs presented. Thematic analysis of the interviews showed that therapy dogs provide instrumental and emotional social support as well as other types of assistance to families, and that the greatest challenges to using such dogs are taking care of them and dealing with lack of information about therapy dogs among users and the general public.