As the spiritually enriching effects of spending time together with animals are gaining the recognition from the public in Japan, an increasing number of inpatients wish to see or to live with companion animals. This situation is spurring on the spread of patient-animal interactions at hospitals. In the present study, an attitude survey was conducted to find out whether nurses are found of animals and whether they are in favor of the use of companion animals at hospitals. The sample was nursing personnel working at a psychiatric hospital that was planning to introduce patient-animal interactions as an intervention strategy to realize nursing support and improve the quality of life of inpatients. The results showed that most respondents had no experience with animal-assisted activities or therapy. However, they expected that seeing and living with companion animals would exert some degree of positive effects on inpatients. Thus, the “preferences, thoughts, and experiences regarding animals” of nurses led to “the understanding toward implementation of animal-assisted srevices at hospitals”. When introducing companion animals in the treatment and care of patients, it is important for nursing personnel to be interested in and like animals, and to realize the need for patient-animal interactions in daily life.
Animals ; Nurses ; Surveys ; Patients ; Hospitals, Psychiatric

  A therapeutic approach utilizing animals is said to be effective for emotionally troubled patients. Recently, this animal-assisted therapy has been implemented in psychiatric hospitals. In the present study, patients seeking some kind of benefit from the interaction with animals participated, and their interaction with animals was closely observed. The results clarified the tendencies of those patients requiring this approach and the resulting changes in patients' mood. For the nurses engaged in 24-hour living support for hospitalized patients, environmental improvement is an important aspect of nursing care and “creating a hospital environment that includes animals” may be linked to emotional stability, improved motivation to live and environmental adaptation for patients who like animals.