The "Dogtor" Will See You Now: The Underutilized Power of Animal-Assisted Interventions to Cultivate Pawsitive Connections, Promote Health Outcomes, and Improve Overall Well-Being

As a pillar of lifestyle medicine, social connection has often emphasized the relationships we hold between each other as humans. However, the literature suggests that connection and interaction with our pets can also serve to enhance our health and well-being. This presentation will review the existing literature on animal-assisted interventions and share potential opportunities for utilizing the human-animal bond to cultivate social connections, promote health outcomes, and improve total well-being. We will conclude with a call-to-action for lifestyle medicine advocates to consider utilizing the power of visiting with a registered therapy animal as an additional therapeutic lifestyle intervention. Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have been defined in the literature as a ‘goal oriented and structured intervention that includes or incorporates animals in health, education, and human services for therapeutic gains in humans’ (IAHAIO, 2018, p. 5). Much of the current literature examines the interactions between humans and dogs, so this will be the primary focus of the AAIs we review from the research during the presentation.

This presentation will provide education for healthcare providers to understand the benefits of utilizing AAI through supporting quantitative evidence and powerful anecdotal accounts. Introducing healthcare providers to AAIs under the “social connection” pillar allows them to add another lifestyle prescription they can implement into their practices by partnering with organizations that can refer qualified AAI teams.