Human-Animal Violence research. A/Prof Nik Taylor & Dr Tania Signal

Transcription

1 Human-Animal Violence research A/Prof Nik Taylor & Dr Tania Signal

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9 On the other hand we also see commonplace acceptance of animal deaths and management.

10 And there s a normalization of animal use(s) and, in many cases, abuse.

11 In some cases the public are encouraged to take part in these management strategies

12 Driven by Preventing animal abuse and cruelty (esp. DV links) Links between human and animal directed empathy, aggression and abuse Conclude that we must assess animal cruelty at a societal level Our research Led to recent focus: - what might the effects of condoned animal harm be? Psychology Sociology

13 The Human-Animal Connection: The Link Ascione (1993) defined animal abuse as socially unacceptable behaviour that intentionally causes unnecessary pain, suffering, or distress to and/or the death of an animal

14 The Human-Animal Connection: The Link Ascione (1993) defined animal abuse as socially acceptable behaviour that intentionally causes unnecessary pain, suffering, or distress to and/or the death of an animal

15 Assumption: Animal Abuse is Rare 43,000 US residents asked in your entire life, did you ever hurt or be cruel to an animal or pet on purpose? 1.8% said Yes Extrapolated to the 215 million adults in the U.S. this equates to around 4 million adults admitting deliberate cruelty to animals (Flynn, 2012) Up to 50% of adolescents aged 9-17 years have reported engaging in animal cruelty of some form (Baldry, 2003) Between 17.6% and 20.5% of undergraduate students have engaged in animal cruelty (Flynn, 2000)

16 Graduation Thesis Two theses Those who deliberately harm animals will graduate to the deliberate harm of humans Media focus Desensitization Thesis CTA exists within a range of callous/antisocial behaviours Increasingly research supports this Much of the early research utilised retrospective reports from incarcerated men

17 Overview of our research Links between lack of human-directed empathy, violence towards animals and violence towards humans are being exposed Violence to Humans EMPATHY? Violence to Animals Attitude to Animals

18 Average scores on empathy measure Empathy results Started off asking if there was a relationship between empathy and attitudes to animals Refined: Relationship btw empathy, experience with and attitudes to animals Mean iriecpt Low Med High himedloaas AAS scores

19 Community Community sample of 598 Buss-Perry AQ 29 items E.g., I have threatened people I know I flare up quickly, but get over it quickly

20 Empathy, AAS & AQ eciri ptiri Average Score on EC PT Average Score on EC PT eciri ptiri Mean Mean Low AAS Medium AAS High AAS low medium high AAS AAS Scores Low AQ Med AQ High AQ lo med hi AQ divided based on SD AQ Scores Signal, T., & Taylor, N. (2006). Attitudes to animals: Demographics within a community sample. Society & Animals, 14(2),

21 Community attitudes are important What can we do about it? 1208 CQ community members, 602 male: 606 female, asked how likely would you be to report Signal, T., & Taylor, N. (2008). Propensity to report intimate partner violence in Australia: Community demographics. Behavior & Social Issues, 17, Taylor, N., & Signal, T. (2006). Community demographics and the propensity to report animal cruelty. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 9(3)

22 Acknowledgement of the Link

23 Australian Service provider perspectives We surveyed family and child services in Qld & NSW in 2004/5: Over 60% reported the welfare of companion animals was of considerable/major concern to their clients. Most indicated they saw deliberate animal harm as another way in which abusers had kept control of the abused. Indicated disparity btw formal reports and actual cases due to clients fear of reprisal. 96% indicated that there was a need for a specific service to address this issue. Taylor, N., Signal, T., Stark, T. (2006). Domestic violence, child abuse and companion animal harm: Service provider perspectives. Journal of the Home Economics Institute of Australia, 13(1), 2-5.

24 Humane Education Psychology 4 th Year project: 37 grade-four students from representative state school (HPSS), Brisbane. 23 in Treatment group; 11 boys and 12 girls 14 in Control group; 5 boys and 9 girls Average age ~ 9 years Pre- & Post testing Treatment group received two, one-hour, Humane Ed lessons per week, over four consecutive weeks within normal class time Control group continued normal curriculum- i.e., no Humane Ed lessons Arbour, R., Signal, T., & Taylor, N. (2009). Teaching Kindness: The Promise of Humane Education. Society & Animals, 17,

25 Humane Education Statistically significant difference between pre- & post- Gender differences: more impact for boys Ceiling effect with CTAQ Gender difference not significant Arbour, R., Signal, T., & Taylor, N. (2009). Teaching Kindness: The Promise of Humane Education. Society & Animals, 17,

26 CTA & Animal Assisted Therapy AAT has a long history with diverse populations Prisoners Adult mental health Elderly Children Hands on approach Utilises theories re: empathy

27 CTA & Animal Assisted Therapy OVERALL AIM: Assess canine AT as adjunct therapy with children presenting to Phoenix House (PH formerly Bundaberg Area Sexual Assault Service) PARTICIPANTS: 18 children (and their primary caregivers); Age range 5 to 12 years (11 boys, 7 girls)

28 CTA & Animal Assisted Therapy INTERVENTION: [10 week program] Weeks 1-3: RSPCA delivered, hands-on, humane education program written by RSPCA education officer specifically for this project. Groups of 5-6 children (max) working with one of 3 dogs (i.e., 1-2 children per dog). Work through activities around caring for an animal; modelling appropriate behaviour towards, and around, dogs; use of positive reinforcement to change behaviour; identifying emotions etc from body language etc Weeks 4-10: PH delivered continuation whereby skills gained in first three weeks are built upon and transferred to human-human interactions

29 CTA & Animal Assisted Therapy TSCYC is a measure of trauma and abuse-related symptomatology No statistical change in PTSD related symptoms between baseline (INTAKE) and pre-program Post-program PTSD_Total scores fall almost below clinical levels this decrease is statistically, and clinically, significant.

30 Harm to animals

31 CTA & Animal Assisted Therapy Equine Facilitated Therapy Range of types EAGALA ( Unique Appears to be extremely effective Kemp, K., Signal, T., Botros, H., Taylor, N., & Prentice, K. (2013). Equine Facilitated Therapy with children and adolescents who have been sexually abused: A program evaluation study. Journal of Child & Family Studies online first Signal, T., Taylor, N., Botros, H., Prentice, K., & Lazarus, K. (2013). Whispering to horses: Childhood sexual abuse, depression and the efficacy of Equine Facilitated Therapy. Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5(1),

32 Future research Any use of animals may send the message that they are willing tools to be used to benefit humans. The PH program attempted to remedy this by attending to both animal and human need, showing that the two sets of interests can co-exist in program design and implementation Sufficient care, pre-planning and resources are needed to ethically engage the services of animals in social work activities. Well-meaning but misdirected actions may involve any type of animal and any cohort of people. for their animals, postadoption. Taylor, N., Fraser, H., Signal, T., Prentice, K, Social Work, animal-assisted therapies and ethical considerations: A program example from Central Queensland, Australia, British Journal of Social work, forthcoming

33 Contact Thanks to Dian Fowles (Flinders Uni) for the images at the start of the presentation.