I my thesis I research how dog-assisted therapy is practiced in Slovenia, what are its advantages and disadvantages, how the process works and what the way of working of the professionals involved in it is. I am exploring how dog-assisted therapy helps people with disabilities and the role of social work in this process. I wonder what role social workers and social work play in dog-assisted therapy, how it is experienced by the social workers involved. In addition, I am researching the effects it has on the physical and mental health of people with disabilities - more specifically people with intellectual disabilities and people who have physical disabilities. I want to know how they experience it and what their opinions are. In the theoretical part, I write about what dog-assisted therapy is, what are its essential features and what effects it has on the psycho-physical health of people with disabilities. I write about therapy dogs and their essential characteristics and describe Slovenian organisations working with therapy dogs. In the second part of the theoretical part, I focus on people with disabilities. Finally, I present the future of dog-assisted therapy in Slovenia and connect dog-assisted therapy to social work. In the research I interviewed five professional workers - three social workers and two occupational therapists - and three people with disabilities - two from VDC Kranj and one from URI-Soča. I qualitatively analyse the data and present the results. In the discussion, I link the results to the literature and add suggestions and conclusions. Through my research I conclude that dog-assisted therapy includes social-work approaches. Positive effects are visible in mental health, cognitive or educational aspects, physical health, speech, and social skills. The dog is a relieving and unburdening element of the therapy, increasing the motivation and confidence of the users in their feelings. There is still much room for progress in the field of dog-assisted therapy in Slovenia. Professionals want to see a change in the system. Based on my research, I believe that dog-assisted therapy could become an important social-work method.
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