INTRODUCTION

College life is a stressful time for many students

Currently in 2009, approximately 322,147 Malaysian
students attend college (Ministry of Higher
Education, 2009)
While in the midst of transitions, and facing an array
of academic, financial and social challenges, students
are at an increased risk of mental illness.
According to Lim (2008), 61.2% of these students
have a stress pressure.
The role animals play in the humans life more
than just survival needs
Human and animals relationships formed together,
human-animal bond provide significant
psychological, physical, and physiological benefits
to human well-being.
The purpose of this project is to describe previous
research that has been conducted on the
advantages of the human-animal bond in relation
to human well-being through companion animals
with a focus on pet therapy.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Pet therapy also called as animal-assisted therapy
(AAT), pet-facilitated therapy, or animal
companionship developed from the idea and initial
belief in the metaphysical powers of animals and
animal spirits.
Florence Nightingale was the first pre-eminent
clinician to perceive the positive influence of
animals in a health care setting. She reported the
many advantage of small companion animals on
her chronically-ill patients.

Boris Levinson, is considered by many to be the
founder of Animal Assisted Interactions in a
therapy setting. In the early 1960s, he
unintentionally recognize the convenience of an
animal as a co-therapist when his dog, Jingles,
facilitated a breakthrough to a disturbed child who
previously had been uncommunicative

Based on Burch (1996), William Tuke has led a Pet
therapy for the mentally ill took place in the late
18
th
century at the York Retreat in England and
that is the earliest report of the pet therapy. This
facility allowed their patient to wander the grounds
which accommodate with a population of small
domestic animals. These were considered to be
useful appliance for socialization.
One of the colonizers of contemporary study is
Erika Friedmann, a proficient in the department of
human-animal interactions. Some of the most
intermittently researches of pet therapy, which
scientifically reported the impact of animals on
humans have been created by Friedmann. A 1980
study reviewed the one-year survival rate of 92
individuals who experienced a heart attack,
comparing patients who owned a pet and those
who did not. The pet owners had a greater survival
rate than those without pets. (Bjick, 2013)
CONCLUSION
research demonstrates that animals play a
significant role in human health and well-being.
Animal companionship and Pet Therapy form
relationships between ordinary people and animals
that consist of physical, physiological, and
psychological advantage.
The advantage is so significant to people health
that recent medical attention has been paid to the
field of Pet Therapy. Despite previous profound
studies, there is still a need for both quantitative
and qualitative research on the effects of Pet
Therapy.
Pet Therapy programs have the ability to be a
successful in the health treatment with a diversity
of populations if it be implemented properly.
The general goal of the proposed Pet Therapy
program is to assist the understanding and raises
the utilization of the health advantage that animals
bring in the lives of humans.
Past research stated that Pet Therapy proves
productive with a diversity of age groups, diagnoses,
and settings. With a commitment on productiveness
with other populations, the proposed Pet Therapy
program will produce the chance to construct upon
both qualitative and quantitative research on the
advantage of Pet Therapy in the mental health
option.