animal-assisted interventions - A method used in social work: comparison of within work Austria

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are present in many areas of social work practice. Following a brief overview of the cultural and historical relationship between humans and animals, this paper illustrates, through examples, how AAI work, in which areas of social work they are used, and where they can be learnt. Examples are also provided of projects in Austria that successfully utilise AAI as a social work method. The qualitative research section examines the criteria by which AAI can be classified as a method and the framework conditions required within social work to implement AAI successfully. The results show that professionalism - that is, the training of both humans and animals - is considered an indispensable prerequisite. It also becomes clear that the collection of individual observations forms an essential basis for qualitative research on TGI. The central question of whether animal-assisted interventions are a method of social work can be answered in the affirmative.