Intervención social y calidad de vida en la diversidad: una aproximación a las Terapias Asistidas por Animales en personas con diversidad funcional

Abstract

[eng] People who show any type of intellectual disability present a few necessities and characteristics to achieve a good quality of life. Among these people, there are a wide variety of psychological problems, which can be more or less severe. Thus, through Animal Assisted Therapies, many of these needs can be worked thanks to the interaction of the person with the co-therapeutic animal, in addition to being a powerful positive influence on the quality of life of these people. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to expose many aspects closely related to people with intellectual disabilities (different kinds of classification schemes, their needs and characteristics, etc.) in addition to carrying out an approach to the Animal Assisted Therapy, with the intention of linking both areas discussed above giving special importance to the concept of quality of life. Hence, it has been observed that these therapies can be very beneficial for the mental, physical and emotional health of the people with intellectual disabilities, as long as interventions are properly implemented and to complement other therapies more specific and concrete.