En hjälpande tass : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om hundens bidrag till socialt arbete

Abstract Authors: Lina Norlin & Caroline Claesson Title: Lending a helping paw – a qualitative interview study on dogs contribution to social work Supervisor: Olof Pavalder Assessor: Nataliya Thell The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of dog-assisted interventions in social work, seen from the practitioners experiences. In addition we wanted to shed light on the method and its contribution to social work. The chosen method was qualitative and consisted of semi-structured interviews with seven practitioners with experience of dog-assisted interventions. The participants were active within different areas of social work, and were based in six different cities across Sweden. The participants answered questions regarding how they could use the dog as a tool in their work with the client, and which benefits versus difficulties they experienced. In our analysis we used attachment theory and perspectives on working alliance, communication and acknowledged methods as a theoretical framework to further the understanding of our material. Our results showed that the participants experienced that the dog could facilitate the communication and establishment of a relationship with the client. Furthermore the dog could help the participants by creating a sense of safety and calm and they could use the dog as a tool to motivate the clients to take responsibility and increase their self esteem. The reason why the dogs were so beneficial was, according to our participants, due to their unique qualities which they described in words of unconditional love and acceptance, intuitive ability, happiness and capability to mediate trust. Our participants experienced that the inclusion of a dog was especially beneficial when working with clients with attachment issues. Regarding difficulties with dog assisted interventions our participants addressed that the concerns of allergies and fear of dogs were the most prominent issues. Another issue the participants experienced was the lack of knowledge about the intervention in different areas of social work in Sweden, which could lead to difficulties implementing the intervention. In summary our results showed that the dog had unique qualities that helped our participants establish a beneficial working alliance, which is essential to accomplish positive change when working with the client