Zooterapia jako innowacyjna metoda pracy socjalnej wspierająca jakość życia seniorów

Animal assisted therapy in social work with the elderly as a key to improve the quality of their lifeSocial work is a profession still searching for more eff ective methods of work that lead to improve the quality of people’s lives. In the area of professional activity nowadays is an animal assisted therapy considered to be the most natural, as based on the direct contact with animals, method used in the process of treatment and rehabilitation of people with disabilities. Many research and inter Katarzyna vention programs incorporated in the United States shown the positive results of the method on people’s well being. The effects are noticeable independently of age, gender and race, sexual  orientation, socio-economic status or living conditions. Th e answer to the question whether it is possible to introduce this innovative method of work with the elderly in social work in Poland will be presented in our article. In this text a reference is made to our qualitative research we carried out among animal-assisted therapy experts.