AAHE 402 - Scientific Assessment of Animal-Assisted Health & Education + Capstone

(3 credits)

This course is designed to provide the foundations for the use of research methodologies for the scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of an AAHE program, as it applies to both the human and the animal partner. Specific topics will include scientific reading, writing, and publication preparation. The capstone component of this course is designed to allow students the opportunity to apply learned materials into the design of a plan that is specific to their needs/aspirations and that can be presented to a supervisor or a potential facility for approval. The plan will include the formation and assessment of goals, interactive methodology, budget/resources, planned outcomes and efficacy assessment. To support the practice and demonstration of skills and competencies, synchronous interactive sessions will provide supervision, communication and collaboration, while asynchronous assessments (“live” recordings of human-animal interactions), will target challenges, difficulties, accomplishments and achievements. Students will have the opportunity to collect preliminary data to assess the application of their plan in a practicum environment (e.g., fieldwork, internship, or a research-focused data collection project). Prerequisite(s): PSYC 101 Introduction to Psychology, AAHE 201 Introduction to Animal Assisted-Health & Education, AAHE 301 The Animal Partner, AAHE 302 The Human Partner,and AAHE 401 Best Practices in Animal-Assisted Health & Education