Research in Human-Animal Interaction
In 2008, WALTHAM® initiated a formal public-private partnership with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to help build the field and promote HAI research, based on a mutual appreciation and concern for the health, development and welfare of children and animals. Together, the partners have co-hosted several workshops where invited experts have presented the latest research and agreed a way forward for future research.
The latest workshop was held at the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition in August 2009 and focused on the role of pets in the socio-emotional and bio-behavioural development of children. Researchers came with a range of perspectives including veterinary, child development, social work, child psychology, ethology and psychiatry.
Topics covered at the meeting included
- Pets and healthy socio-emotional development in children
- Biological correlates
- Pets and mental health issues
- Pets as buffers to childhood trauma