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Research, Awards and Publications

Research

Mayo Clinic

The Brooks College of Health (IBH) has partnered with the Mayo Clinic to conduct research related to the impact of therapy dogs on staff at the Mayo Clinic using a mixed methods approach. Specifically, the aims include:

  1. describe the impact that facility dogs have on health workers well-being and joy,
  2. describe the experience and emotions that having facility dogs visit health workers has on their work experience, and
  3. explore perspectives of facility dog visits specifically for health workers.

 

Nemours Children's Health

ADAPT Program

2019 to 2024  Embedded Animal-Assisted Therapist  with dogs and horses in free study pediatrics class. ADAPT Courses

Purpose:

The purpose of this 3-mini course ADAPT orientation is to provide a foundation on which to underpin the efficacy and best practices for animal assisted services. Competencies endorsed by the American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association Human Animal Interaction, Pet Partners, Animial Assisted Intervention International and International Association of Human Animal Interaction Organizations provide recommendations for handlers and licensed professionals that include understanding the importance of establishing intentionality in sessions as well as knowledge of animal behavior at the breed, species, and individual levels. This moves beyond knowledge and awareness of one’s own animal to outside, evaluated courses, workshops, and programs.

This coursework will consist of three hourlong webinars. All three courses must be completed in order to receive the professional development certificate. 

Benefits of this Certificate Program

  • Provides educational foundation for those currently or interested in working with therapy animals in a health or human service setting
  • Provides safer and more efficacious therapy sessions

Awards

IPEC Award for Program of Excellent Interprofessional Collaboration

US Department  of Public Health Commissioned Officer’s FoundationThe Osprey PERCH program had 21 counseling interns located in 7 locations throughout the UNF campus including the Dean of Students, Athletics, Fraternity & Sorority Life, and Res Life. These interns saw 379 UNF students in the study year (2021-2022) for a total of ~4,500 sessions. Six staff members administered the PERCH program and budget. There were at least 6 serious crises for which the PERCH program director had to be primary provider because the nature of the incidents was beyond the scope of the interns. PERCH’s outcome reports for the study year indicated that students fared better than 90+% of students served in other US university counseling programs (n=270) in 6 of 8 mental health symptom domains following treatment with PERCH providers. At the same time, the PERCH director was Coordinator for the Animal Assisted Therapy certificate and developed the Integrative Behavioral Health certificate which began in 2022. Finally, the UNF OspreyPERCH program was awarded the 2022 Program of Excellent in Interprofessional Collaboration by the IPEC Commission of the US Department of Public Health Commissioned Officer’s Foundation. The program also was awarded almost $284,000 in from Baptist Health Foundation to support the JaxPERCH initiative and IBH certificate.

Publications

  • Binder, A. J., Parish-Plass, N., Kirby, M., Winkle, M., Skwerer, D. P., Ackerman, L., ... & Wijnen, B. (2024). Recommendations for uniform terminology in animal-assisted services (AAS). Human-Animal Interactions, 12(1).
  • Winkle, M. Y., & Johnson, A. (2023). The Importance of Animal Welfare in Animal-assisted Services. In Animal-assisted Interventions: Recognizing and Mitigating Potential Welfare Challenges (pp. 1-4). GB: CABI. 
  • Vonk, J., Khalid, A., Johnson, A., Cameron, P., & Eddie Lee, K. T. (2023). Avoidant Attachment Mediates Cultural Differences in Likelihood to Surrender Pets. Anthrozoös, 36(6), 1039-1059. 
  • Johnson, A., Cameron, P., & Trevathan-Minnis, M. (2023). Determining consistency in the attitudes and actions of providers of animal-assisted services regarding their alignment with standards and ethical practice. Human-Animal Interactions, 
  • Johnson, A., & Eccles, E. (2022). Animal Welfare Considerations in Animal-Assisted Interventions. Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin 
  • Trevathan-Minnis, M., Johnson, A., & Howie, A. R. (2021). Recommendations for Transdisciplinary Professional Competencies and Ethics for Animal- Assisted Therapies and Interventions. Veterinary Sciences, 8(12), 303. 
  • Duberstein, A., King, B., & Johnson, A. R. (2021). Pit bulls and prejudice. The Humanistic Psychologist. 
  • Bruneau, L. & Johnson, A. (2021). Dog Welfare for Dogs on College Campuses. Jalongo, M. R. (Ed.). (2021). The Canine-Campus Connection: Roles for Dogs in the Lives of College Students. Purdue University Press. 57-98. 
  • Winkle, M., Johnson, A., & Mills, D. (2020). Dog Welfare, Well-Being and Behavior: Considerations for Selection, Evaluation and Suitability for Animal-Assisted Therapy. Animals, 10(11), 2188. 
  • Erdman, P, Johnson, A., & Hart, L. A. Practitioners Corner. (2020) Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, Vol. 8, No. 1, 93 -100 
  • Johnson, A. & Bruneau, L. (2019). Caring for and About Dogs: Animal Welfare Considerations. Prison Dog Programs: Renewal and Rehabilitation in Correctional Facilities. Springer Nature. 79-98. 
  • Johnson, A. & Bruneau, L. (2019) Prison Populations and Pet Loss. Pet Loss, Grief, and Therapeutic Interventions: Practitioners Navigating the Human-Animal Bond. Springer Publishing. Chapter 8. 
  • Johnson, A. (2019). Global Best Practices in Applying AAI: Snapshots of Unique Treatments: Teacher’s Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together. The Handbook on Animal Assisted Therapy, 5th Elsevier Publishing. 432-444. 
  • Syzmanski, T., Casey, R., Johnson, A., Cano, A., Albright, D., & Seivert, N. (2018). Dog training intervention shows social-cognitive change in the journals of incarcerated youth. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Vol. 5. Article 302. 1-11. 
  • Martinez, S., Cano, A., Casey, R., Johnson, A., May, D. & Wurm, L. (2018). Development of the Bonding with Dog Checklist (BoDC). Human Animal Interaction Bulletin. 6(1). 32-46. 
  • Seivert, N. P., Cano, A., Casey, R. J., Johnson, A., & May, D. K. (2018). Animal assisted therapy for incarcerated youth: A randomized controlled trial. Applied developmental science, 22(2), 139-153.  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888691.2016.1234935  Links to an external site. 
  • Johnson, A., & Bruneau, L. (2018) Pets and Relationships: How animals help us understand ourselves and our connections with others. Clinician's Guide to Treating Companion Animal Issues: Addressing Human-Animal Interaction. Academic Press. 
  • Johnson, A. (2016). Animal Assisted Therapy. Encyclopedia of Nursing Research, 4th Edition. Springer Publishing Company. New York, NY.  Pp 28-34 
  • Johnson, A. & Bruneau, L. (2016). Healing Bonds:  Animal Assisted Interventions with Adjudicated Male Youth in Men and Their Dogs: A New Psychological Understanding of ‘Man’s Best Friend.” Springer Publishing. Pp. 113-132. 
  • May, D. K., Seivert, N. P., Cano, A., Casey, R. J., & Johnson, A. (2016). Animal-assisted therapy for youth: A systematic methodological critique. Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 4(1), 1-18. April.  http://www.apa-hai.org/human-animal-interaction/  Links to an external site. 
  • Bruneau, L. & Johnson, A. (2016). Fido and Freud Meet: Integrating Animal Assisted Interventions with Counseling Theory. ACA’s VISTAS, Winter issue. 
  • Penprase, B., Johnson, A., Pittiglio, L. & Pittiglio, B. (2015). Does mindfulness based stress reduction training improve nurse satisfaction? Nursing Management (Springhouse). ISSN 0744-6314, Vol. 46 (12). 38-45. 
  • Johnson, A. (2012) Animal Assisted Therapy. Encyclopedia of Nursing, 3rd Springer Publishing Company. New York, NY. Pp 394-398.