Animal Asisted Activity and Animal Assisted Therapy in Context of Social Services

This bachelor thesis maps the provision of activities and therapies with the assistance of animals in the kontext of social services. It deals with activities and therapies assisted by animals in the Retirement home TEP, the center of social services in Veselí nad Lužnicí and examines the benefits of activities and therapies for its users. There are defined old age and aging, retirement home, activities and therapies assisted by animals, thein contribution for retirement home and organizations operating in this area. The practical part of this thesis consists of research. Its main goal was to map the provision of activities and therapies with the assistance by animals in the Retirement home TEP, the center of social services in Veselí nad Lužnicí. The qualitative research strategy, the method of questioning and the technice of semi-structured interviews were choosen. Participant observations and secondary data analysis were also used. The research group consisted of five users who used animal-assisted aktivity and therapy for more than 1 year and were over 65 years old. The results were processed into case studies. The research shows that activities and therapies assistanced by animals in the retirement home take the form of a visitor and resident program. Users can see the benefits of animal in improving their mental condition, communication with employees, practicing memory and fine and gross motor skills. Most of the pensioners think that this therapies has no straight impact on making new friendships. This work can be used primarily by retirement home workers who practice animal-assisted activities and therapies to bendit users. Finally it can help bring this activities and therapies closer to the general public