Pets and the elderly. A social work perspective.

Pets can provide companionship, affection, and psychosocial stimulus for elderly people in a program that is planned and supervised by professionals who are knowledgeable about both the humans and the animals and who are clear about the goals to be achieved. Ineffective programs, or programs with negative effects, have developed when the proponents assumed that any pet would be good for elderly persons either living alone or in a residential center. A much-needed aspect of any people-pet program is the collection, analysis, and reporting of social data to provide a better information base for planning the use of pets in a therapeutic setting.