ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY (AAT) OR ANIMAL ASSISTED ACTIVITY (AAA): INCORPORATION TO SUS INTEGRATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY PRACTICES

Abstract

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) is a therapeutic resource in which the human-animal relationship is used to promote the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive functions of people. The main goal is to evaluate the results obtained by the practice of AAT in different diseases and highlight the experiences that can be introduced in Public Health Policies, such as Integrative and Complementary Practices. A narrative literature review was carried out on scientific databases as well as national and international institutional sites. Animal-Assisted Therapy or Animal Assisted Activity is used as an intervention at different levels of care, according to people’s needs. Among the main benefits, can be highlighted the decrease in heart rate and blood pressure; the improvement of the patients’ and the professionals’ moods; the  humanization actions at the hospital environment; the decrease of the perception of pain; cholesterol levels reduction; the welfare and improvement of the verbal language and motor condition. Therefore, AAT can brings benefits in different types of treatment and should be included among the Unified Health System Integrative and Complementary Practice.