Animals Webinar | Defining Terms Used for Animals Working in Support Roles for People With Support Needs: Implications for Different Regions of the World
30 Nov 2022, 08:00 (CET)
companion animal, assistance animal, service animal, facility animal, therapy animal, emotional support animal, educational support animal, visiting animal, human animal interaction
Welcome from the Chairs
4th Animals Webinar
Defining Terms Used for Animals Working in Support Roles for People With Support Needs: Implications for Different Regions of the World
The roles that animals play in providing support to people with support needs is growing rapidly, and the types of support that they offer can have a positive impact on the quality of life of the people they support. However, there is confusion about the terms used to describe these working roles. For instance, what is the difference between an assistance animal and a therapy animal? Similarly, what is a facility animal? A group of researchers, practitioners, and end beneficiaries of these animal-based supports created clear, operationalised definitions to the various terms which are inconsistently used to describe these working roles. We aimed to make our definitions applicable internationally, but different regions of the world may vary in how they apply the definitions, based on existing legislation, historical convention, and cultural preferences. In this webinar, we explain the potential implications of our definitions in several major regions of the world, including North America, Europe, East Asia, and Australia/New Zealand.
Date: 30 November 2022
Time: 8:00 am CET | 2:00 am EST | 3:00 pm CST Asia
Webinar ID: 890 0959 3390
Webinar Secretariat: animals.webinar@mdpi.com
Chairs
School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia
Tiffani is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University. She has extensive experience in research on animal welfare, dog-owner relationships, and assistance dogs, including surveys, focus groups, and behavioural studies. She recently completed a four-year trial, funded by the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs, to understand the effectiveness of assistance dogs as an adjunct to treatment for veterans with PTSD.
Anthrozoology Research Group, Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia
Prof Bennett is Head of the Department of Psychology and Counseling at La Trobe University. She focuses on human-companion animal relationships. She leads the Anthrozoology Research Group, serves on the board of the International Society for Anthrozoology, acts as Associate Editor for the journal Anthrozoos, and co-supervises higher degree students enrolled at several Australian Universities. She has published over 175 peer-reviewed publications.
Invited Speakers
School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Lynette Hart is Professor of Anthrozoology and Animal Behavior at the UC Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, where she spearheads anthrozoology on campus, teaches courses, leads research, and mentors students. She has published over 150 papers, and co-authored books on: behavior profiles of dog breeds and of cat breeds, behavior therapy, use of research animals, and dissection. Her work has particularly focused on assistance dogs, optimizing people’s relationships with dogs or cats, pet loss, and self-care for animal caregivers. Additionally, she co-led the 10-year study on effects of age of spay-neuter for 35 breeds and 5 weight classes of dogs. She is a founding member and fellow of the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ), and she was selected as the first ISAZ Distinguished Anthrozoologist in 2017.
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Chiara Mariti graduated in Veterinary Medicine in 2003 at the University of Pisa, where she also obtained a Master in Veterinary Behavioural Medicine and a Ph.D. on horse behaviour. At the moment, she is an associate professor at the University of Pisa, where she focuses most of her research on pets’ behaviour and welfare and on anthrozoology. She is a diplomate of the ECAWBM- subspecialty in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law.
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Musashino, Tokyo, Japan
Miki is a Professor of Comparative Development Psychology at Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University. She has extensive experience in research on human animal bond including surveys, and behavioural studies. She is the president of Asian Society of Animal Assisted Education and Therapy. She is interested in promoting scientific views from Asian perspectives.
Webinar Content
Program
Speaker/Presentation |
Time in CET |
Chairs Dr. Tiffani Howell and Professor Pauleen Bennett Introduction: Overview of Recommended Definitions |
8:00 – 8:10 am |
Professor Lynette Hart Implications for North America |
8:10 - 8:30 am |
Professor Chiara Mariti Implications for Europe |
8:30 - 8:50 am |
Professor Miki Kakinuma Implications for Asia |
8:50 - 9:10 am |
Dr. Tiffani Howell Implications for Australia/New Zealand |
9:10 - 9:30 am |
Q&A |
9:30 - 9:55 am |
Closing of Webinar Chairs Dr. Tiffani Howell and Professor Pauleen Bennett |
9:55 – 10:00 am |