Pets to therapy ! Therapists' attitudes towards incorporating pets into family assessment
Keywords:
attitudes, companion animal, family evaluation, pets, psychotherapy.Abstract
Companion animals have a strong presence in Western culture families. They are considered to be part of the family by 90% of them. However, the mental health field had practically ignored the human-animal connection in both clinical training and practice. In order to analyze how therapists consider pets in their clinical practice, a descriptive study was developed using an online form with a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Therapist Attitudes Scale Towards the Incorporation of Pets (EATHIM), built for this research (Cronbach's α .86). The sample population comprised 327 psychologists. The results obtained indicate that the age of the therapists and the number of years of professional practice is not related to the scale. The comparison of groups according to the modalities of care (family, couples, children) did not show differences in their EATHIM scores. Psychoanalytical counseling professionals obtained lower scores than the rest of them. Female therapists and those who considered pets important in personal life scored better on EATHIM. These results are discussed, highlighting the tendency of therapists to accept and consider pets as members of families with significant roles, but reject their concrete incorporation into clinical practice. The importance of implementing the links between humans and animals in professional training, so they are incorporated in clinical practice, is highlighted.
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