STRUCTURAL EMPOWERMENT
“He has a lot in
common with me. We
both have osteosarcoma.
We’re both 11 and a half
years old.”
Youth and Pet Survivors Program
Creating Companionship, Healing, and Celebrating Life
Due to their compromised immune systems, oncology
patients undergoing bone marrow transplant are
unable to participate in traditional live animal visitation
therapy. Anne Gillespie, BSN, RN, CPHON wasn’t
satisfied with that. In 2001, she created the Youth and
Pet Survivors Program, or YAPS, to allow these patients
to “visit” with an animal, without the associated risk.
YAPS participants, age 7 to 18 years, exchange letters
and photos with dogs and cats (letters are written
by the pets’ owners in the voice of their pet) who are
undergoing cancer treatment. Through pictures and
writing, patients and animals with common medical
challenges form a relationship.
To explore the implications of this emerging field,
Gillespie conducted a research study over a 15-month
period from 2017 to 2018, evaluating the experiences
of patients in YAPS. She interviewed 15 participants,
eight girls and seven boys ages 7 to 16, at different
stages of participation.
PAT I E N T I N T E RV I E W E D
F O R T H E YA P S S T U DY
The element that most clearly set the YAPS study
apart from other AAT studies was participants’ shared
experience with the animal. Over time, they developed
a friendships and experienced the excitement of getting
something in the mail. It gave them something to look
forward to.
“We talk a lot about like, stuff that… I feel like I couldn’t
talk about with anybody else. Because they just
wouldn’t understand. Like needles and stuff.”
PAT I E N T I N T E RV I E W E D F O R T H E YA P S S T U DY
By increasing pleasure and distraction, and decreasing
fear and pain, animal-assisted therapy improves quality
of life in hospitalized pediatric patients. Animal-
assisted therapy research is in its infancy, and there are
no published studies that look at the impact of virtual
animal interactions on children and adolescents with
cancer or undergoing bone marrow transplant. YAPS
has been and remains the only known virtual animal-
assisted therapy program of its kind.
ANNE GILLESPIE, BSN,
RN, CPHON
This research will be published in 2019 and will serve
as the foundation for Gillespie’s doctoral dissertation.
It’s conclusion: YAPS transcends circumstances.
It’s about companionship and healing, sharing and
celebrating life. One day soon, Gillespie hopes to see
it disseminated as a viable animal-assisted therapy
option in pediatric care.
“I would tell other kids that a pen
pal is really great. They send perfect
letters. They send funny letters.”
PAT I E N T I N T E RV I E W E D F O R T H E YA P S S T U DY
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