The Effect of Therapy Dogs on Preoperative Anxiety

Abstract

ABSTRACT Animal-assisted interventions have been used to improve human psychological and physiological wellbeing. Research studies on the effects of therapy dogs have found that the companionship of a dog significantly decreases stress levels in many different situations, including health care facilities. We investigated the effects of therapy dogs on adults’ anxiety before going into day surgery. Participants were patients from a Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit. Four conditions were compared to examine the effects of dogs on the patients’ stress: a therapy dog and handler team, a stuffed dog and handler, a person without a dog, or no visitor. Before and after these visits, the heart rate and blood pressure of the patient was taken. Patients also completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory short form (STAI) and a brief demographics survey. No change was found in blood pressure or heart rate in any of the conditions. Based on the STAI scores, we found a statistically significant reduction in anxiety for any intervention over no visit at all. We also found that, although there was no statistical difference between the effects of the real dog and the stuffed toy dog, the stuffed dog condition lowered anxiety enough to show a statistically significant reduction compared with no visitor. Our research is one of the few studies to compare a live dog to a similar size and breed stuffed toy dog. Our results indicate that, in the absence of a real dog, a stuffed toy dog may have equivalent therapeutic value. Our study provides further knowledge on the effects of dog-assisted interventions on medical patients and indicates avenues for future research.