Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106136

Belinda Wong, MPH, Department of Health Education, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, 415-681-9810, bwong@itsa.ucsf.edu

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential value of an intervention that aims to support the relationship of people with HIV/AIDS and their pets to other vulnerable populations. PAWS is a human-animal support service program dedicated to keeping people with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities together with their companion animals and educating the community on the health benefits of pets. Since 1987, this community-based intervention has been a central part of HIV/AIDS services in San Francisco. Recently, PAWS expanded services to people with other disabling conditions. A previous assessment indicated that a large portion of PAWS clients utilize many types of health and human services. Therefore, health and human service providers were identified as potential bridges to populations not actively served by PAWS specifically, such as the elderly, disabled, mentally ill, people in recovery, homeless, and persons' with chronic or terminal illnesses other than HIV/AIDS. Methods consisted of recruiting a network sample of 20 San Francisco health and human service providers to conduct key informant interviews. This qualitative study examined: 1) provider's attitudes, knowledge, and interest in the human animal bond and the impact of pets on human health; 2) their awareness of the PAWS program; and 3) whether they felt their clients could benefit from this type of intervention. Results contribute to the growing research on the human-animal bond and its implications as a complementary health intervention.

Learning Objectives:

• Define what human animal support services are.
• List five health indicators and three psychosocial effects that have been correlated with having a pet.
• Recognize various professional perspectives on the human animal bond.
• Assess whether this intervention or type of support service can be beneficial to your client population.

Keywords: Intervention, Vulnerable Populations

Related Web page: www.pawssf.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.