Canine Assisted Therapy to Reduce Emergency Care Provider Stress

Anxiety Clinical Trial

— CANINE II  

Official title:

Canine Assisted Therapy to Reduce Emergency Care Provider Stress

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03628820
• Other study ID #: 1804891471
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: May 17, 2018
• Est. completion date: August 9, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: February 2020
• Source: Indiana University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The main study hypothesis is that emergency healthcare workers on shift who interact for 5 min with a therapy dog and handler will have lower perceived and manifested stress response compared with use of a time out that includes voluntary use of a coloring mandalas. The work will also address two exploratory hypotheses: The first is that salivary cortisol will correlate significantly with perceived stress and will increase from beginning to end of shift, and that exposure to a therapy dog will blunt this increase. The second exploratory hypothesis states that participants who interact with a therapy dog will display more empathic behaviors.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 119
• Est. completion date: August 9, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: August 9, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Inclusion criteria require that participants work full time as either a nurse or physician in the Eskenazi emergency department and are willing to consent to participation.

• Participants will include residents, faculty and nurses who work in the emergency department

Exclusion Criteria:

• Exclusions include any reported prior fear or adverse reaction to dogs

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety
• Emergencies
• Stress

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Dog Therapy
5 minutes spent with therapy dog during shift
• Coloring
5 minutes spend coloring mandalas during shift

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Indiana University	Indianapolis	Indiana

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Indiana University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Cortisol change	Time and location of shift and times of each measurement. T1: As soon as practicable at shift start: Baseline perceived stress scale and anxiety scale (shown below) and approximately 100 uL of saliva using a commercial kit (Salimetrics® 1-3002 (5PK 1-3002-5)). Saliva is collected > 10 min after any eating or drinking. T2: Repeat perceived stress scale, anxiety scale and saliva approximately 15-30 min after exposure to the dog and handler or the coloring.; Scale 0 to 10; 0=balanced mood 2=slight fear and worry 4= mild fear and worry 6=moderate worry, physical agitation 8= strong agitation, pacing, can't sit still 10= out of control behavior, self-harm	4 hours