Dog-Assisted Therapy Reduces Stress and Improves Mood in Healthy Subjects

by | May 2, 2024 | Alternative Therapies, Brain Health, Recent Articles, Stress

Written by Taylor Woosley, Science Writer. Participants partaking in the animal-assisted intervention experienced increased brain activity and reported improved feelings of fatigue, stress, and depression when interacting with the dog compared to when at rest. 

petting dogAnimal-assisted therapy (AAT) and animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are rehabilitation and treatment procedures that use trained animals to help people cope with difficult situations, in addition to other therapeutic interventions1. Dogs are one of the most used animals, with evidence showing that they may provide humans with a range of physical, mental, and social benefits2. Dogs are effectively used in treatment of individuals with disabilities or concentration and attention disorders because they favorably affect the psychosocial and socio-physical domains3.

Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) consists of structured one-on-one sessions, offered by trained professionals who work with certified therapy dogs4. An increasing number of studies on DAT in patients with an average intelligence with mental health problems have shown that DAT is a promising intervention for improving social-communicative skills and physical well-being and reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and those related to trauma5. Furthermore, studies have also highlighted the benefit of AAI in reducing stress, loneliness, agitation, and improved quality of life6.

Yoo et al. conducted a study to assess the effect of interactions with a dog on different activity types by measuring psychophysiological responses via an electroencephalogram (EEG) and analyzing emotional responses using subjective mood questionnaires. 30 subjects (15 men, 15 women; average age: 27.9 ± 8.4 years) who did not have allergies or cynophobia were included. A four-year-old female Standard Poodle, who qualified as an animal-assisted activity (AAA) dog, partook in the study, and completed sessions three times a day with an activity time of approximately 60 minutes per session. All subjects experienced eight AAAs in a single session which included meeting, play, feeding, massage, grooming, photography, hugging, and walking. Each participant had 3 minutes of rest before the activity and the beginning and ending activities were fixed (meeting and walking, respectively).

Brain waves were measured for 3 minutes per stimulus and subjects were informed not to speak or make quick movements. Participants completed a questionnaire in 1-2 minutes immediately after each activity. Subjects reported their subjective emotional states using the Profile of Mood State (POMS), Semantic Differential Method (SDM), and Stress Numeric Rating Scale (Stress NRS). A 1-minute break was completed before beginning the next activity and all procedures were completed in 60 minutes. During the AAAs, subjects wore a wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) device to measure brainwave activity. The EEG data was then analyzed for relative alpha (RA), relative slow alpha (RSA), relative fast alpha (RFA), relative beta (RB), relative low beta (RLB), and relative mid beta (RMB) power spectra.

A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s post-hoc analysis were utilized to compare each activity for the EEG and subjective evaluation data. Significant findings of the study are as follows:

  • RA power spectrum analysis results show that activity in both sides of the frontal lobes (p < 0.001) and left prefrontal lobe (p < 0.05) were significantly higher during AAAs. Furthermore, analysis findings show that significantly higher results were observed during the play activity on both sides of the prefrontal and frontal lobes compared to during other activities (p < 0.001).
  • During all AAAs, subjects showed significantly lower fatigue (p < 0.001) and depression (p < 0.01) than at rest.
  • Participants experienced significantly lower stress in all AAAs in the Stress NRS compared to at rest (p < 0.01).

Results of the study show the animal-assisted interventions, such as playing and walking the dog, positively influenced brain activity in subjects. Furthermore, participants reported lower feelings of fatigue, stress, and depression during AAAs compared to when at rest. Further research using larger subject samples and longer study durations are necessary to better comprehend findings.

Source: Yoo, Onyoo, YuTong Wu, Jin Soo Han, and Sin-Ae Park. “Psychophysiological and emotional effects of human–Dog interactions by activity type: An electroencephalogram study.” Plos one 19, no. 3 (2024): e0298384.

© 2024 Yoo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.

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Posted May 2, 2024.

Taylor Woosley studied biology at Purdue University before becoming a 2016 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a major in Writing. She currently resides in Glen Ellyn, IL.

References:

  1. Guillen Guzmán E, Sastre Rodríguez L, Santamarina-Perez P, et al. The Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy as Complementary Treatment in a Children’s Mental Health Day Hospital. Animals (Basel). Oct 19 2022;12(20)doi:10.3390/ani12202841
  2. McDowall S, Hazel SJ, Cobb M, Hamilton-Bruce A. Understanding the Role of Therapy Dogs in Human Health Promotion. Int J Environ Res Public Health. May 12 2023;20(10)doi:10.3390/ijerph20105801
  3. Wolan-Nieroda A, Dudziak J, Drużbicki M, Pniak B, Guzik A. Effect of Dog-Assisted Therapy on Psychomotor Development of Children with Intellectual Disability. Children (Basel). Dec 29 2020;8(1)doi:10.3390/children8010013
  4. Griffioen RE, van Boxtel GJM, Verheggen T, Enders-Slegers MJ, Van Der Steen S. Group Changes in Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability of Children with Down Syndrome and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Dog-Assisted Therapy. Children (Basel). Jul 11 2023;10(7)doi:10.3390/children10071200
  5. Schooten AV, Peters-Scheffer N, Enders-Slegers MJ, Verhagen I, Didden R. Dog-Assisted Therapy in Mental Health Care: A Qualitative Study on the Experiences of Patients with Intellectual Disabilities. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. Feb 29 2024;14(3):540-553. doi:10.3390/ejihpe14030036
  6. Jain B, Syed S, Hafford-Letchfield T, O’Farrell-Pearce S. Dog-assisted interventions and outcomes for older adults in residential long-term care facilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Older People Nurs. Sep 2020;15(3):e12320. doi:10.1111/opn.12320