Cooperation of a Canistherapeutic Team with a Multidisciplinary Team in the Center Arpida in České Budějovice

This thesis deals with the cooperation between the canistherapeutic and multidisciplinary team at Arpida, the registered center for the rehabilitation of disabled people.Animal assisted therapy and preferably canistherapy becomes an integral part of the therapy in a variety of social services, we can see it as a part in educational institutions and even medical devices. It is proved among the many studies that canistherapy is based on the interaction between man and dog and also affects the overall quality of life.Since the beginning of the targeted use of animals in therapy specialists have gained a lot of experience, but in the field of canistherapy they still see the lack of link between services, as well as other shortages among the cooperation with other experts.The author in the theoretical part of the thesis deals with description of parts of animal assisted therapy.She outlines the historical origins of therapy using animals, describes a division, methods and the forms used.The next chapter is devoted to the therapy using a dog. It describes the beginnings of canistherapy in the Czech Republic, conditions for practicing the professional kind of therapy and targets of canistherapy.Because the author sees the importance of linking treatment with the help of a dog within other therapies, the following chapters is devoted to a coordinated rehabilitation, its resources and members of the multidisciplinary team. The thesis also mentions the concept of circular care.As an extension of the circular care, the social worker stands on top. One chapter is also devoted to the quality of life. The last chapter is devoted to a brief description of the Arpida center, a multidisciplinary team and canistherapeutical teams which attend the Arpida center.This thesis continues with practical part where the author describes the aim, research questions and research methodology. The aim of the thesis was to determine the extent of cooperation between canistherapeutical and multidisciplinary team in the center of Arpida.For research in the thesis a qualitative strategy was used, meaning an interviewing method and a technique of semistructured interview.The multidisciplinary team experts in the Arpida centre, and the clients´ parents regularly visited by the canistherapist became the research group. It was an occupational therapist, physiotherapists and special needs teacher among the experts. Two main research questions were established: HVO1: In what multidisciplinary team expert´s care is the client using canistherapy? HVO2: Does their professional activity go before or does it follow the canistherapy? The interviews were recorded on a Dictaphone and then transcribed into written form. The results are published in the form of open coding, where the author has defined categories. The research results are divided into chapters according to the categories that have emerged from open coding. The results show that collaboration between multidisciplinary and canistherapeutical team does not exist. Thanks to the openness of informants and their answers, the author has found out that cooperation among these experts is possible. The interviews identified areas where cooperation could begin and with such experts would be the best. Results are supplemented by a table which categorizes streamline and SWOT analysis. The author, in the discussion conclusion has applied her knowledge of practicing professional canistherapy and has proposed recommendations for practice and cooperation in the fields of physiotherapy and occupational therapy.It is very easy to see from the research conclusion that cooperation is possible, and therefore the author would like to recommend the work to a multidisciplinary team from and parents of clients, who see canistherapist regularly. This thesis could serve as an inspiration for canistherapists who cooperate with other professionals and want to elevate their volunteer activities on valid therapeutic or rhb metho