Can Dog-Assisted Intervention Decrease Anxiety Level and Autonomic Agitation in Patients with Anxiety Disorders?

Wołyńczyk-Gmaj, Dorota; Ziółkowska, Aleksandra; Rogala, Piotr; Ścigała, Dawid; Bryla, Ludwik; Gmaj, Bartłomiej; Wojnar, Marcin

doi:10.3390/jcm10215171

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Actually, whether this physiological response is indicative of positive excitement or of potentially negative stress remains an open question. However, the observed positive effect (i.e., reduction) on systolic and diastolic blood pressure would seem to corroborate the hypothesis that human–animal interactions could contribute to improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 52%

Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Case Study

Gregorini

Canio²,

Palmucci³

et al. 2022

Healthcare

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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by cortical dementia and irreversibly progressive developments leading to a vegetative state and, finally, to death. Although many aspects of its etiology, diagnosis and treatment still remain obscure and the current approach to the disease mostly suffers from limited and low-efficiency therapeutic means, nevertheless, recent interventions have aimed at improving patients’ quality of life through nonpharmacological approaches, including animal-assisted therapy (AAT), arousing growing interest. In order to assess the physiological and neuropsychological effects of AAT on AD, 24 residents of a rest house in northern Italy were enrolled. The intervention consisted of one 45-minute AAT session per week over ten weeks. Twelve residents (six AD and six non-AD) received AAT and twelve (six AD and six non-AD) were controls. In order to evaluate the physiological and clinical effect of AAT on AD residents, three cardiac parameters, including the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate, were measured. Moreover, the neurocognitive and depressive states were assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination and the Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively. Analyses were performed by a four-way ANOVA model (including two ways for repeated measures) considering each main effect and interaction possible in the design. Our findings, despite the small sample size, suggest that AAT has a positive significant effect on physiological parameters and neurocognitive impairment, while no effect was observed on the depression level.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 52%

Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Case Study

Gregorini

Canio²,

Palmucci³

et al. 2022

Healthcare

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“…In the category “animal,” we included studies that had an experimental condition with a live animal and that compared that condition to a control condition with no animal present (e.g., Julius et al, 2013 ; Kim et al, 2016 ; Branson et al, 2017 ; Hartfiel et al, 2017 ; Levinson et al, 2017 ; Schuck et al, 2018 ; Wolynczyk-Gmaj et al, 2021 ; Abdel-Aziem et al, 2022 ). We found that 88.37% ( n = 152) of the studies controlled for an animal as a specific factor.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specific and Non-specific Factors of Animal-Assisted Interventions Considered in Research: A Systematic Review

Wagner

Grob²,

Hediger³

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Research on animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) has increased massively in the last few years. But it is still not clear how AAIs work and how important the animal is in such interventions. The aim of this systematic review was to compile the existing state of knowledge about the working mechanisms of AAIs. We searched 12 major electronic databases for previous AAI studies with active control groups. Of 2001 records identified, we included 172 studies in the systematic review. We extracted previously published hypotheses about working mechanisms and factors that have been implicitly considered specific or non-specific in AAI research by categorizing control conditions using content analysis. We analyzed the categories using descriptive statistics. We found that 84% of the included studies mentioned a hypothesis of working mechanisms, but 16% did not define specific hypotheses. By analyzing their control conditions, we found that in most controlled studies, the animal or the interaction with the animal was implicitly considered as a specific factor for the effects of the AAI. Non-specific factors such as therapeutic aspects, social interactions, or novelty have also been controlled for. We conclude that AAI research still cannot answer the question of how and why AAIs work. To address this important research gap, we suggest using component studies with innovative control conditions and results from placebo research to address both the specific and non-specific, contextual factors of AAIs to disentangle its mechanisms.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=158103, identifier: CRD42020158103.

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“…For example, a systematic review [137] reported a significant reduction in heart rate, blood pressure, and/or cholesterol levels in some studies. Individual studies have reported decreased heart [138][139][140][141] and respiratory [138] rates, as well as lowered blood pressure [140] and increased heart-rate variability [139]. AAI-associated neuroendocrine changes (discussed below) are thought to, at least partly, underlie decreased stress and arousal associated with these interventions [126].…”

Section: Transdiagnostic Benefits and Symptom Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Marchand

2023

IJERPH

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Equine-assisted services (EASs) are being increasingly used as complementary interventions for military veterans who have experienced trauma. However, there is limited evidence of benefit for this population and almost no literature describing the desired potential outcomes and possible mechanisms of action. The aim of this article is to address these gaps by reviewing the extant literature of animal-assisted interventions in general, and equine-assisted services in particular, with the goal of providing guidance for future investigations in the field. Currently, the field is in the early stage of scientific development, but published results are promising. Interventions that enhance treatment compliance and/or outcomes could benefit this population. Preliminary results, reviewed herein, indicate that EAS interventions might benefit the military veteran population by enhancing treatment engagement and therapeutic alliance, as well as by contributing to symptom reduction and resulting in various transdiagnostic benefits. It is recommended that future studies include exploration of potential beneficial outcomes discussed herein, as well as investigate suggested mechanisms of action.

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Can Dog-Assisted Intervention Decrease Anxiety Level and Autonomic Agitation in Patients with Anxiety Disorders?

Cited by 7 publications

References 33 publications

Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Case Study

Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Case Study

Specific and Non-specific Factors of Animal-Assisted Interventions Considered in Research: A Systematic Review

Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature

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