Physiological and behavioral effects of animal-assisted interventions on therapy dogs in pediatric oncology settings

• Published in: Applied animal behaviour science 2018-03, Vol.200, p.86-95
• Main Authors: McCullough, Amy, Jenkins, Molly A., Ruehrdanz, Ashleigh, Gilmer, Mary Jo, Olson, Janice, Pawar, Anjali, Holley, Leslie, Sierra-Rivera, Shirley, Linder, Deborah E., Pichette, Danielle, Grossman, Neil J., Hellman, Cynthia, Guérin, Noémie A., O’Haire, Marguerite E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal training; Animal welfare; Animal-assisted intervention; Animals; Behavior; Cancer; Children; Children & youth; Cortisol; Demographics; Dogs; Oncology; Parents; Physiological effects; Physiology; Saliva; Salivary cortisol; Stress; Stress (physiology); Stress response; Stresses; Therapy; Therapy dog
• ISSN: 0168-1591; 1872-9045
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.11.014

•The responses of dogs to animal-assisted intervention sessions were investigated.•Dogs’ salivary cortisol did not increase during animal-assisted intervention sessions.•Dogs did not have increased stress-associated behaviors during AAI sessions.•Dogs who exhibited more stress behaviors also exhibited more affiliative behaviors.•Dogs who exhibited more stress behaviors also had increased salivary cortisol. Over the past two decades, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), defined as the purposeful incorporation of specially trained animals in services to improve human health, have become increasingly popular in clinical settings. However, to date, there have been few rigorously-designed studies aimed at examining the impact of AAIs on therapy animals, despite a notable potential for stress. The current study measured physiological and behavioral stress indicators in therapy dogs who participated in AAI sessions in pediatric oncology settings, while also examining the psychosocial effects for patients and their parents. This manuscript describes the study’s canine stress findings. A total of 26 therapy dog-handler teams were paired with newly diagnosed children with cancer at five children’s hospitals in the United States. These teams provided regular AAI visits to the child and his/her parent(s) for a period of four months. The teams completed a demographic form, the Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ), and a self-report survey to document the types of activities that occurred during each session. Canine saliva was also collected at five baseline time points and 20min after the start of study sessions for cortisol analysis, and all study sessions were video recorded to document the dog’s behavior via an ethogram measure. Data showed no significant differences in salivary cortisol levels between baseline (0.51μg/dL) and AAI sessions (0.44μg/dL; p=0.757). Higher salivary cortisol was significantly associated with a higher number of stress behaviors per session (p=0.039). There was a significant relationship between stress and affiliative session behaviors (p