Patient Education Tools: Using Pets to Empower Patients’ Self-care—APilot Study

摘要

Six patient education tools were designed to guide patients’ self-care byactivating pets to positively impact social determinants of health. Distributedto both pet owners and primary health-care providers, each tool addressed aspecific area of health and outlined a pet-related activity. Surveys questionedhow participants used the tools and their impact on health and health care. Petowners shared the tools with family and friends. Primary health-care providersused the tools to target specific health concerns. Primary health-care providersreported that working with the tools improved rapport with their patients.