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. 2022 Aug 4;12(15):1975.
doi: 10.3390/ani12151975.

Defining Terms Used for Animals Working in Support Roles for People with Support Needs

Tiffani J Howell  1 Leanne Nieforth  2 Clare Thomas-Pino  3   4 Lauren Samet  5 Sunday Agbonika  6 Francisca Cuevas-Pavincich  7 Nina Ekholm Fry  8 Kristine Hill  9 Brinda Jegatheesan  10 Miki Kakinuma  11 Maureen MacNamara  12 Sanna Mattila-Rautiainen  13 Andy Perry  14 Christine Y Tardif-Williams  15 Elizabeth Ann Walsh  16 Melissa Winkle  17   18 Mariko Yamamoto  19 Rachel Yerbury  20 Vijay Rawat  21 Kathy Alm  22 Ashley Avci  23   24 Tanya Bailey  25 Hannah Baker  26 Pree Benton  27 Catherine Binney  28 Sara Boyle  29 Hagit Brandes  30 Alexa M Carr  31 Wendy Coombe  32 Kendra Coulter  33 Audrey Darby  34 Lowri Davies  35 Esther Delisle  36 Marie-Jose Enders-Slegers  37 Angela Fournier  38 Marie Fox  39 Nancy Gee  40 Taryn M Graham  41 Anne Hamilton-Bruce  42 Tia G B Hansen  43 Lynette Hart  44 Morag Heirs  45 Jade Hooper  46 Rachel Howe  47 Elizabeth Johnson  48 Melanie Jones  49   50 Christos Karagiannis  51 Emily Kieson  52 Sun-A Kim  53 Christine Kivlen  54 Beth Lanning  55 Helen Lewis  56 Deborah Linder  57 Dac Loc Mai  1 Chiara Mariti  58 Rebecca Mead  5 Gilly Mendes Ferreira  59 Debbie Ngai  60 Samantha O'Keeffe  61 Grainne O'Connor  62 Christine Olsen  63 Elizabeth Ormerod  64 Emma R Power  65 Peggy A Pritchard  66 Kerri Rodriguez  67 Deborah Rook  68 Matthew B Ruby  1 Leah Schofield  69   70 Tania Signal  71 Jill Steel  72 Wendy Stone  73 Melissa Symonds  74 Diane van Rooy  75 Tiamat Warda  8 Monica Wilson  76 Janette Young  77 Pauleen Bennett  1
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Defining Terms Used for Animals Working in Support Roles for People with Support Needs

Tiffani J Howell et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The nomenclature used to describe animals working in roles supporting people can be confusing. The same term may be used to describe different roles, or two terms may mean the same thing. This confusion is evident among researchers, practitioners, and end users. Because certain animal roles are provided with legal protections and/or government-funding support in some jurisdictions, it is necessary to clearly define the existing terms to avoid confusion. The aim of this paper is to provide operationalized definitions for nine terms, which would be useful in many world regions: "assistance animal", "companion animal", "educational/school support animal", "emotional support animal", "facility animal", "service animal", "skilled companion animal", "therapy animal", and "visiting/visitation animal". At the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ) conferences in 2018 and 2020, over 100 delegates participated in workshops to define these terms, many of whom co-authored this paper. Through an iterative process, we have defined the nine terms and explained how they differ from each other. We recommend phasing out two terms (i.e., "skilled companion animal" and "service animal") due to overlap with other terms that could potentially exacerbate confusion. The implications for several regions of the world are discussed.

Keywords: assistance animal; companion animal; educational support animal; emotional support animal; facility animal; human–animal interaction; service animal; therapy animal; visiting animal.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of relationships between various animal roles.

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