Prepare Your Piece

Goal 2: To examine and identify the unique role occupational therapy can offer through implementing animal assisted therapy with dogs with children with disabilities. 

Once the piece is decided, it is important to begin to prepare for your performance. This preparation involves thoroughly learning your music by studying the score, learning the notes, and breaking down the difficult passages. There is an immense amount of research of past performances of the piece as well. Similarly, occupational therapists must research evidence-based practices in order to provide the best services to their clients. To continue to refine this topic of interest through further research and compiling of evidence I created Goal 2. 

One pivotal step in achieving Goal 2 was writing a systematic review. The process challenged my ability to search, critically appraise the literature, and synthesize the evidence. While demanding, conducting the systematic review enhanced my skills for appraising the evidence. This is a skill I can carry forward in my clinical practice.  While conducting the systematic review it became apparent that there remains a significant gap in research regarding animal assisted therapy with dogs in occupational therapy, indicating the need for continued research efforts in this area.

For my second artifact, I presented an in-service during my Level II fieldwork experience at St. Mary's Hospital for Children. In this in-service, I educated the rehabilitation team about the therapeutic application of animal assisted therapy with dogs. After my presentation, we engaged in a thoughtful Q and A discussion about definitions, insurance, and COVID-19 protocols. This discussion provided me with valuable perspectives from those who were interested in using but were unfamiliar with animal assisted therapy. The positive response from my in-service not only validated my efforts, but also helped lay the groundwork for my competence project in Goal 3.

Recognizing the growing popularity of podcasts for information dissemination, I decided on a podcast format for my third artifact. I conducted interviews with occupational therapists who used animal assisted therapy with dogs in a pediatric setting to explore their experiences and insights. I learned from these interviews that there is a need for more comprehensive research in this area and an establishment of best practices.  

Planning for and conducting the podcast challenged my skills as an interviewer. After listening to the first interview, I found that while it is important to be prepared with  scripted questions, it is also important to be flexible  and “go off script” when necessary in order to dive deeper into the conversation. Reflecting on the interviews, I realized that previously I had taken for granted how challenging an interviewer’s job is and how much of a responsibility it is to keep the subject engaged and focused.  

Artifact 1: Systematic Review: Animal Assisted Therapy Interventions for Children with Disabilities

Artifact 2: In-Service: Animal Assisted Therapy with dogs in a Pediatric Population

Artifact 3: Podcast Interview: Animal Assisted Therapy with dogs as an Occupational Therapy Modality

Proceed to Systematic Review