{"id":31184,"date":"2025-10-03T11:38:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=31184"},"modified":"2025-10-03T11:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:38:25","slug":"when-therapy-isnt-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/when-therapy-isnt-enough.php","title":{"rendered":"When Therapy Isn\u2019t Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Purdue undergraduate researcher explores how service animals can help promote psychosocial well-being of sexual assault survivors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emma Senter<\/a>, a Purdue University<\/a> Department of Psychological Sciences<\/a> junior, has always considered herself an animal person. So, when she had the opportunity to join the Human-Animal Partnerships and Interactions (HAPI) Lab<\/a> in the College of Veterinary Medicine<\/a>, she jumped at the chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Senter, a brain and behavioral sciences major<\/a> in the College of Health and Human Sciences<\/a>, doesn\u2019t work with the canines, her work with their human companions has helped her see the applied and interdisciplinary aspects of her field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re advocating for the option of having service dogs as part of a treatment modality for PTSD and overcoming sexual assault trauma,\u201d Senter said. \u201cI interact with the people. I\u2019ve conducted interviews with the participants just asking them about their experiences, the process of getting their service dog, how their service dog assists them in their day-to-day life and the changes that have come from that, and the advantages and disadvantages of having a service dog in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work, which is done under the mentorship of Dr. Leanne Nieforth<\/a>, a Purdue Veterinary Medicine assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology<\/a>, investigates how a psychiatric service dog partnership can serve as a potential intervention for survivors of sexual assault. The work is funded by a Research Breakthrough Award<\/a> from the John Martinson Honors College<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants in the study began by completing a national survey. Then, those participants who agreed to an interview would be asked to send two photos of themselves with their service dog that illustrate their relationship and the impact the animal has had on their life. This method, called autophotography, allows participants to give the research team a glimpse into their experiences. This research is a part of Purdue\u2019s presidential\u00a0One Health Initiative<\/a>\u00a0that involves research at the intersection of human, animal, and plant health and well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Emma
Emma Senter is a Purdue undergraduate researcher serving in the College of Veterinary Medicine\u2019s Human Animal Partnerships and Interactions Lab (Photo by Rebecca Hoffa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been fascinating because even though we only ask for two, a lot of the participants will send more, like 10,\u201d Senter said. \u201cIt\u2019s heartwarming and so inspiring just to hear the experiences of people who have gone through something traumatic like sexual assault and survived it and how they are taking advantage of an animal interaction as an alternate therapy modality when medication or talk therapy fail or aren\u2019t as successful as they would like it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Senter, who hopes to have her own counseling practice one day, being a part of the work has opened her mindset to new intervention methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing because I\u2019m so immersed in the research process,\u201d Senter said. \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate to be able to interact with and interview the participants. I\u2019m contributing to the data analysis. I\u2019m coding. I\u2019m really doing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the work, bringing together students across a variety of areas on campus from Science to Agriculture to Health and Human Sciences, Senter has seen how her major interacts with other fields to help drive innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPsychological Sciences overlapping with Vet Med \u2014 combining those fields only strengthens the evidence,\u201d Senter said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very unifying experience because a lot of the students in the lab are in different majors. It\u2019s very diverse, but we\u2019re all interested in the core idea that this interdisciplinary work is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senter noted that, as she has dived headfirst into the research world, she has appreciated how Dr. Nieforth has been very encouraging, creating a welcoming and supportive lab environment for her students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout Emma\u2019s time in the lab, I\u2019ve seen her embrace new topics and unfamiliar challenges with determination,\u201d Dr. Nieforth said. \u201cIt\u2019s been inspiring to watch her grow \u2014 not only in her overall research knowledge and skills but also in confidence, self-awareness and curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research experiences like what\u2019s she\u2019s found in the HAPI Lab are what initially drove Senter to Purdue from her home in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have some of the best research opportunities for undergraduates in the country,\u201d Senter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the research team is still analyzing the data to unpack the results, Senter said she\u2019s excited to see the impact of the work, even in her own academic journey.\u201cIt\u2019s given me a wealth of knowledge that I wouldn\u2019t have if I didn\u2019t apply for the position in the lab,\u201d Senter said. \u201cThe findings so far are inspiring. It\u2019s fascinating and heartwarming to hear the perspectives, stories and experiences of the participants because they\u2019ve been through a lot \u2014 and even just the overall impact their service dog has had on their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emma Senter, a\u00a0Purdue University\u00a0Department of Psychological Sciences\u00a0junior, has always considered herself an animal person. So, when she had the opportunity to join the\u00a0Human-Animal Partnerships and Interactions (HAPI) Lab\u00a0in the\u00a0College of Veterinary Medicine, she jumped at the chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41,29,42],"tags":[2290,2289,150],"class_list":["post-31184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-faculty-staff","category-our-people","category-students","tag-human-animal-partnerships-and-interactions","tag-psychological-sciences","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31184"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31208,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31184\/revisions\/31208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}