The Legislation for Providing Animal Access in Australian Residential Aged Care
It's Not a Zoo
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11228752 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wendy Newton (0000-0001-7834-9315, School of Health, Medical & Applied Sciences Central Queensland University Bundaberg Queensland Australia, corresponding author), Tania Signal (0000-0001-5677-9496, School of Health, Medical & Applied Sciences Central Queensland University Rockhampton Queensland Australia), Jenni A Judd (0000-0001-8441-5008, Research Division Central Queensland University Bundaberg Queensland Australia) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Social Issues (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0157-6321 • E-ISSN: 1839-4655 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajs4.70052 |
| OpenAlex | W4412393859 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
Providing meaningful animal contact to residential aged care facility (RACF) residents is problematic due to a lack of animal policies and National Guidelines. This paper examines how Australian Legislation could influence access to animal contact in RACFs and aims to answer the question, ‘Could current Legislation facilitate the development of policies or guidelines influencing the provision of Animal‐Assisted Activities (AAA) in RACFs?’ After identifying appropriate Australian Acts and Principles from the Federal Legislation, we analysed them to answer the research question. An additional examination of Queensland State Legislation, which includes limited mention of animals in RACFs, found it had little impact on Federally funded RACFs. After examining the Legislation, we identified three main areas that may contribute to providing residents with access to AAA in their RACF: resident rights, facility responsibilities and funding. However, these links are broad and subject to interpretation. This intersectional argument draws on the work from the domains of social policy, aged care policy, public health policy and animal welfare science, demonstrating the complexity of developing animal policies in RACFs. Acknowledging the complexity does not detract from the need for such policy development and the potential benefit of animal policies to residents and animals in RACFs
Aged care · Business · Legislation · Political science · Project commissioning · Publishing · Residential care · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Law · Medicine · Gerontology
Healthy settings
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Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy in Patients with Dementia Residing in Aged Care Centers in Spain
A Systematic Review of Research on Pet Ownership and Animal Interactions among Older Adults
Injury-Related Emergency Department Presentations Among Residential Aged Care Residents in Victoria, Australia
The Availability of Psychological Services for Aged Care Residents in Australia
Document analysis in health policy research
The experience of animal therapy in residential aged care in New Zealand
Situational Analyses
Loneliness, Depression, and Physical Activity in Older Adults
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |