The Affinity Foundation Chair for Animals and Health at the Autonomous University of Barcelona
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The Affinity Foundation Chair for Animals and Health at the Autonomous University of Barcelona is a research centre dedicated to studying and disseminating the benefits of living with companion animals. Initially focused on analysing the human-animal bond, its focus is now on analysing the value of animals as an important source of social support and emotional wellbeing for people.
The main objective is to better understand the impact of living with animals and how this contributes to mutually improving quality of life. Additionally, we are interested in providing evidence on how assisted-therapy programmes help people overcome particularly difficult times.
The Chair also supports the Annual Study on Abandonment, Loss and Adoption of Companion Animals, to identify both the factors that strengthen the bond and those that can weaken it, thus promoting the wellbeing of both parties.
Dr Jaume Fatjó Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB. Leads our efforts to promote innovative and applied studies to improve living with companion animals.
Contact
Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB.
Facultad de Medicina
Campus de la UAB
Tel. (+34) 93 581 23 81
08193 – Bellaterra
Jaume.fatjo@uab.es
Management
Dr. Jaume Fatjó
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Profesor asociado del Departamento de Psiquiatría y Medicina Legal de la UAB.
Joint Monitoring Committee
Professor Antoni Bulbena
Professor of Psychiatry
Isabel Buil
Director of the Affinity Foundation
Professor Adolf Tobeña
Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB.
Dr Celina Torre
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
Director of Research at Affinity Petcare
Dr Oscar Vilarroya
Physician and Doctor of Cognitive Science
Director of Research at the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB.
Dr. Joan Ramon Fortuny
Psychiatrist.
Director of the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Process at the Parc de Salut Mar de Barcelona.
Joint Monitoring Committee
Professor Lluís Ferrer
Professor of Animal Pathology at the Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery.
Chair projects
Areas of research
Bond/Social support
Analysis of the emotional and physical benefits of the human-animal bond.
Find out how living with animals can mutually improve quality of life.
Abandonment and adoption
Data on the abandonment and adoption of dogs and cats. Causes, consequences and possible strategies to solve the problem.
Learn about the key trends and statistics relating to the study.
Therapies
We evaluate the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapies in collaboration with the centres where we carry out these programmes (hospitals, educational centres and child protection centres)
Find out about some of our therapy programmes
Publications
Scientific publications
- Calvo P, Duarte C, Bowen J, Bulbena A, Fatjó J (2014) Characteristics of 24 cases of animal hoarding in Spain. Animal Welfare, Animal Welfare, 23, 199-208.
- Fatjó J, Bowen J, García E, Calvo P, Rueda S, Amblás S, Lalanza JF (2015) Epidemiology of Dog and Cat Abandonment in Spain (2008–2013), Animals, 5, 426-441.
- Calvo P, Fortuny JR, Guzman S, Macías C, Bowen J, García ML, Orejas O, Molins F, Tvarijonaviciute A, Cerón JJ, Bulbena A, Fatjó J (2016) Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) Program As a Useful Adjunct to Conventional Psychosocial Rehabilitation for Patients with Schizophrenia: Results of a Small-scale Randomized Controlled Trial. Frontiers in Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00631
- Calvo P, Bowen J, Bulbena A, Tobeña A, Fatjó J (2016) Highly Educated Men Establish Strong Emotional Links with Their Dogs: A Study with Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) in Committed Spanish Dog Owners. PLoS One, 11(12). Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168748. eCollection 2016.
- Howell TJ, Bowen J, Fatjó J, Calvo P, Holloway A, Bennett PC (2017) Development of the cat-owner relationship scale (CORS). Behavioural Processes http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.024
- Mariti, C., Guerrini, F., Vallini, V., Bowen, J., Fatjò, J., Diverio, S., Sighieri, C., Gazzano, A., The perception of cat stress by Italian owners, Journal of Veterinary Behavior (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.jveb.2017.04.002.
- Bowen J, Fatjó J, Serpell JA, Bulbena-Cabré A, Leighton E, Bulbena A (2019) First evidence for an association between joint hypermobility and excitability in a non-human species, the domestic dog, Scientific Reports 9, Article number: 8629; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45096-0
- Jacobetty, R.; Lopes, D.; Fatjó, J.; Bowen, J.; Rodrigues, D.L. Psychological Correlates of Attitudes toward Pet Relinquishment and of Actual Pet Relinquishment: The Role of Pragmatism and Obligation. Animals 2020, 10, 63.
- Fatjó, J.; Bowen, J. Making the Case for Multi-Axis Assessment of Behavioural Problems. Animals 2020, 10, 383.
- Bowen J, García E, Darder P, Argüelles J, Fatjó J (2020) The effects of the Spanish COVID-19 lockdown on people, their pets and the human-animal bond. Journal of Veterinary Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2020.05.013.
- Bowen J, Bulbena A, Fatjó J. The Value of Companion Dogs as a Source of Social Support for Their Owners: Findings From a Pre-pandemic Representative Sample and a Convenience Sample Obtained During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 14;12:622060. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.622060. PMID: 33935828; PMCID: PMC8081030.
- Barrios, C. L., Bustos-López, C., Pavletic, C., Parra, A., Vidal, M., Bowen, J., & Fatjó, J. (2021). Epidemiology of Dog Bite Incidents in Chile: Factors Related to the Patterns of Human-Dog Relationship. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 11(1), 96. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010096
- Barrios, C. L., Aguirre, V., Parra, A., Pavletic, C., Bustos-López, C., Perez, S., Urrutia, C., Ramirez, J., & Fatjó, J. (2021). Systematic Review: Comparison of the Main Variables of Interest in Publications of Canine Bite Accidents in the Written Press, Gray and Scientific Literature in Chile and Spain, between the Years 2013 and 2017. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 11(3), 893. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030893
- Argüelles, J., Echaniz, M., Bowen, J., & Fatjó, J. (2021). The impact of a stress-reducing protocol on the quality of pre-anaesthesia in cats. The Veterinary record, 188(12), e138. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.138
- Úbeda Y, Fatjó J, Rostán C, Crailsheim D, Gomara A, Almunia J, Llorente M (2021) A preliminary investigation on the evaluation of psychopathologies in a group of ex-pet and ex-performer chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): A rating approach based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 41, 52-64, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2020.08.006.
- Úbeda, Y., Asensio, V., Rivas, A., Serra, R., Fatjó, J., Llorente, M., & Villaespesa, F. (2021). Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) personality: A rating assessment with ex Situ Conservation Program sample. Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983), 135(3), 360–369.
- Riggio G, Borrelli C, Piotti P, Grondona A, Gazzano A, Di Iacovo FP, Fatjó J, Bowen JE, Mota-Rojas D, Pirrone F, et al. Cat–Owner Relationship and Cat Behaviour: Effects of the COVID-19 Confinement and Implications for Feline Management. Veterinary Sciences. 2022; 9(7):369. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9070369
- Argüelles, J., Duque, B., Miralles, M., Bowen, J., & Fatjó, J. (2023). Use of mirtazapine in the treatment of canine behaviour problems: A review of 32 cases. Veterinary Record Open, 10(2), e3670. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.3670
- Carles Conejero, Carlos González-Crespo, Jaume Fatjó, Raquel Castillo-Contreras, Emmanuel Serrano, Santiago Lavín, Gregorio Mentaberre, Jorge R. López-Olvera, Between conflict and reciprocal habituation: Human-wild boar coexistence in urban areas, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 936, 2024.
Book chapters
- Fatjó J, Pérez-Monguió JM (2017) La naturaleza de la relación con los animales: reflexiones desde la antrozoología y el derecho. En: Animales y racionales en la Historia de España, García Huerta MR y Ruiz Gómez F (eds.). Silex Universidad, págs. 15-43.
- Fatjo J, Bowen J (2020) Une perspective clinique de la cognition du chien. In: Bedossa T & Jeannin (eds) Comportement et bien-être du chien: une approache interdisciplinaire. Educagri Editions, Dijon, 227-240.
- Fatjo J, Bowen J (2020) Le lien homme-animal. In: Bedossa T & Jeannin (eds) Comportement et bien-être du chien: une approache interdisciplinaire. Educagri Editions, Dijon, 543-555.
- Fatjó J., Bowen J., Calvo P. (2021) Stress in Therapy Animals. In: Peralta J.M., Fine A.H. (eds) The Welfare of Animals in Animal-Assisted Interventions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69587-3_5
- Fatjó, J., & Bowen, J. (2023). Companion animals in times of crisis: Contemporary evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic. In A. H. Fine (Ed.), The Routledge international handbook of human-animal interactions and anthrozoology (pp. xx-xx). Routledge.