Animal-Assisted Interventions and Animal Welfare—An Exploratory Survey in Germany

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Animals play a crucial role in social occupational fields. The positive effects of animals are described in theory and practice. However, the significance of animal welfare in animal-assisted intervention settings has not yet been extensively researched. In the present project, individual views on animal welfare are analyzed based on interviews with professionals working with animals. As a result, it can be stated that animal welfare plays an important role for those working in animal-assisted interventions. The structure and design of assignments, animal-related aspects, and conditions as well as education and knowledge are mentioned as generally relevant conditions for compliance with animal welfare from the perspective of animal-assisted intervention practitioners. In addition, concrete courses of action to ensure animal welfare are described. These include stopping or changing the setting at different levels. It is not possible to assess the actual implementation of animal-assisted intervention settings in the context of animal welfare. Further studies are needed to analyze this. ABSTRACT: Background: Animals play a crucial role in social occupational fields. The positive effects of animals are described in theory and practice. However, the significance of animal welfare in animal-assisted intervention settings has not yet been extensively researched, so that the aim of this explorative study was to investigate the perception and significance as well as the understanding of animal welfare and its implementation on the part of professionals working with animals. Methods: In the present project, 270 animal-assisted professionals from Germany were interviewed about their individual perceptions of animal welfare and their implementation of animal welfare with the help of questionnaires with closed questions (5-point agreement scale) and open questions. The quantitative data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS and MS Excel. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic coding. Results: The quantitative and qualitative results show that animal welfare poses high importance for people working in animal-assisted interventions. The structure and design of assignments, animal-related aspects and conditions, and education and knowledge are mentioned as generally relevant conditions for ensuring animal welfare from the perspective of animal-assisted intervention practitioners. In addition, different concrete courses of action to ensure animal welfare are described, which are characterized as stopping or changing the setting at different levels. Conclusions: Animal welfare plays a central role for professionals working with animals. However, further studies are necessary in order to record other animal welfare-relevant aspects in the animal-assisted interventions, depending on the respective animal species, and to examine the implementation of animal welfare-related measures.