Alexandria R. Pavelich (BA, York University; MA, University of Saskatchewan) is a current PhD student in the department of sociology at the University of Saskatchewan, working under the supervision of the Canada Research Chair in One Health and Wellness, Dr. Colleen Anne Dell. Alexandria’s master’s work on the topic of “mattering” garnered international attention after showing that service dogs can be a catalyst in reducing suicidality among Canadian veterans living with PTSD. Her doctoral work will continue to explore the benefits of animal-assisted intervention, but in the context of emotional and physical pain within institutional settings. In the community, Alexandria continues to volunteer with the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog program and the Saskatchewan Pain Society where she is a patient advocate for increasing trauma-informed care policies.
Understanding if and how therapy dog-handler teams benefit emergency department patients with mental health concerns
Funded in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation as part of our winter 2023 scholarships, Alexandria Pavelich, from the University of Saskatchewan, is conducting a project that aims to generate and mobilize knowledge about how therapy dog-handler teams can support individuals with concerns related to mental health (including substance use) within an emergency department (ED) setting to inform healthcare practices, policy, and future research.
Utilizing a methodology grounded in institutional ethnography, Alexandria and therapy dog-handler teams will be visiting with patients presenting with mental health concerns to a Saskatoon-based ED to conduct ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews. The goal of the research is to better understand how the visit of a therapy dog-handler team may help foster a more positive ED experience for patients and staff. The participant-oriented study will begin with the standpoint of the patient as its first point of entry, and it will be the first of its kind to also explore the perspective of the therapy dog handler as it may contribute to the patient experience.
The objectives of the research will be to: (1) generate data about the relevance and impact of a unique support (therapy dog-handler team visits) for populations living with mental health concerns; (2) identify how the presence of therapy dog-handler teams can shape patients’ experiences in the ED, and may affect the ED setting; (3) mobilize knowledge to share how canine-human and human-human relations can be fostered through effective integrated and end-of-grant knowledge translation and dissemination strategies; and (4) use the knowledge generated to assist other therapy dog programs by drafting policies and practice guidelines that help foster therapy dog-handler teams’ supportive presence and visits within EDs across Canada.