Human–Animal Interaction: Animal Behaviour and Whole-Person Health in Animal-Assisted Interventions
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Human-Animal Interactions, Animal Behaviour and Emotion".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 285
Special Issue Editor
Interests: animal-assisted interventions; aging; chronic pain in older adults; treatment adherence
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Animal-assisted interventions are increasingly being utilized as a non-pharmacological approach to help meet the physical, psychological, and social needs of individuals. Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), an umbrella term encompassing both animal-assisted therapy and animal-assisted activities, are defined by the International Association of Human–Animal Interaction Organizations as “goal oriented and structured interventions that intentionally include or incorporate animals in health, education and human services (e.g., social work) for the purpose of therapeutic gains in humans”. In recent years, the health benefits of AAIs have received increased attention, and the aim of this Special Issue is to highlight their role in promoting whole-person health across various domains of well-being. This Issue welcomes research with various populations spanning the life course, including children through older adults. Additionally, this Special Issue also welcomes research that sheds light on various animal behaviours that can impact the therapeutic bond between humans and animals, such as, communicative signals, stimulus response, gazing, and stress reactions.
The primary focus is the impact of AAIs on the following areas of human well-being: (1) physical health (e.g., cardiovascular, exercise, sleep, mobility, pain), (2) psychological health (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, suicide, happiness), and (3) social well-being (e.g., loneliness, social isolation, quality of life). Additionally, articles will be accepted that pertain to mechanistic biomarkers underpinning human–animal interactions (in both humans and animals); methodological considerations for AAI implementation; data on the risks/drawbacks of AAIs with special populations, such as older adults; and qualitative studies detailing individuals’ experiences with AAIs.
Article types: This Special Issue seeks original research articles, though review papers and commentaries will also be accepted.
Dr. Meredith L. Stensland
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- animal-assisted intervention
- whole-person health
- human–animal bond
- animal behaviour
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