Welfare of the therapy animal within facilitated youth psychotherapy: A scoping review

As mental health challenges grow in prevalence within the youth population in the United States, professionals within the industry are looking to alternative therapeutic approaches where other therapeutic interventions have failed. This has led to the growth of therapeutic interventions utilizing animals as a complementary approach in psychotherapy addressing the mental health of youth. Nevertheless, with this growth comes the concern of the welfare of the therapy animal, particularly with the prevalence of animal abusive behaviors associated with various youth mental health disorders. Thus, a scoping review was conducted with an aim to compile research conducted on therapy animals in youth psychotherapy to uncover themes within the studies available and to determine potential areas for which further research is needed. Four questions were developed to target therapy animal welfare within youth psychotherapy. These questions were utilized for the scoping review and within each question inclusion and exclusion criteria were implemented. Reviewed literature determined limited research targeting welfare assessment methods outside of heart rate measurement, cortisol concentration, and behavioral stress scaling using ethograms. Further areas lacking within the literature reviewed were associated with the makeup of the therapy session including the breeds of animals utilized and the lengths of the therapy sessions. Each question independently lacked substantial research as fifteen articles was the largest number of articles reviewed within a question after application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. In addition, all questions resulted in contradictions within the findings and had at least one inclusion criteria where no articles were available. Further, when reviewing across all four questions, the horse and dog were the only therapy animals studied within the reviewed literature. As such, further research is warranted targeting areas where research is lacking in order to ensure the welfare of animals being utilized within a youth psychotherapy setting.