Dog-Assisted Therapy Significantly Reduces Stress in School Children

by | Sep 19, 2023 | 2022, Alternative Therapies, Infant and Children's Health, Stress

Written by Taylor Woosley, Staff Writer. 20-minute animal-assisted intervention over the course of a 6-week school term resulted in improvements in mean cortisol levels in both mainstream school children and children with special educational needs. 

petting dogIn adolescence, a period characterized by psychosocial and physiological changes and increased stress-sensitivity, high levels of stress are associated with various negative outcomes1. Young children experiencing depression and anxiety symptoms results in a negative impact on their development, constituting a risk factor for poor academic performance2. Furthermore, psychiatric symptoms including emotional, social, and behavioral problems, may cause functional impairment in multiple areas of life such as educational attainment3.

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a unique form of therapy with the aim of promoting the patients’ success in achieving therapeutic goals4. A large body of evidence has shown that interaction between patient and animal prepares a ground to boost self confidence and improve the quality of life5. Additionally, studies report that AAI is linked to decreased anxiety, increased positive affect for a limited time, and increased activity6.

Meints et al. conducted a randomized controlled trial to analyze dog-assisted interventions as a mediator of stress through measurement of salivary cortisol in school children with and without special educational needs over the course of the school term. Baseline salivary cortisol measurements were collected at the beginning and end of a school term (~6 weeks duration) in mainstream and special educational needs schools. Acute cortisol was also collected with children in mainstream schools. Children (aged 8-10 years) were assigned to either a dog-assisted intervention, relaxation intervention, or a no treatment control.

Subjects were divided into two different study groups based on school type. Study 1 consisted of children (aged 8-9 years) in publicly funded mainstream schools (n = 54 boys, 51 girls) with baseline cortisol samples collected at baseline and after intervention from 90 children. Acute cortisol samples were collected from children before and 30 minutes after intervention from children (n = 20 boys, n = 27 girls) in the dog and relaxation intervention groups only. Study 2 consisted of children with special educational needs with available baseline cortisol samples (n = 6 girls, n = 38 boys). 23 different dogs and their professional handlers (n = 21) were included in the interventions.

Before intervention, all children partook in a safety training to establish appropriate behavior around the therapy dogs. Dog-assisted intervention sessions took place for 20 minutes and included the children petting the dog, learning about the animal, and interacting with the dog. The relaxation intervention consisted of stretching, relaxing, and listening to a story. Children in the control group attended regular classes. Repeated measures ANOVAS was utilized on Condition as between-subjects factor (AAI, relaxation intervention, control) and Time as repeated measure (before and after intervention) per cohort (Study 1 and Study 2). Significant finding of the study are as follows:

  • Regarding Study 1, children in the control group experienced the highest increase in mean cortisol levels over time with medium effect size (p = .013). Children assigned to the relaxation intervention also showed an increase in mean cortisol levels, however, it was less significant (p = .072). Children in the AAI group exhibited no significant changes in mean cortisol levels after intervention p = .289).
  • A significant main effect of Time showed a significant reduction in children’s acute cortisol post intervention for mainstream school children (p < .001).
  • A repeated measures ANOVA of Time (pre- and post-intervention) x Condition (AAI, relaxation group, or control) revealed a main effect for Time with significant decreases in cortisol overall (p = .003) for special education children in the dog-intervention group. Special education students in the relaxation group and control showed no significant differences in cortisol levels pre- and post-intervention.

Results of the study show that animal-assisted group therapy did not significantly increase cortisol levels in both special educational needs children and mainstream school children over the 6-week school term intervention. Furthermore, acute cortisol was also significantly reduced after AAI in mainstream school children and resulted in a consistent reduction in cortisol levels across the term. Study limitations include the lack of testing of acute cortisol levels in special education children and the small sample size of subjects in Study 2.

Source: Meints, Kerstin, Victoria L. Brelsford, Mirena Dimolareva, Laëtitia Maréchal, Kyla Pennington, Elise Rowan, and Nancy R. Gee. “Can dogs reduce stress levels in school children? effects of dog-assisted interventions on salivary cortisol in children with and without special educational needs using randomized controlled trials.” PloS one 17, no. 6 (2022): e0269333.

© 2022 Meints 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 September 19, 2023.

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:

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  2. Costa D, Cunha M, Ferreira C, et al. Self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in Portuguese primary school-aged children. BMC Psychiatry. Feb 27 2020;20(1):87. doi:10.1186/s12888-020-02498-z
  3. Pagerols M, Prat R, Rivas C, et al. The impact of psychopathology on academic performance in school-age children and adolescents. Sci Rep. Mar 11 2022;12(1):4291. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08242-9
  4. Zhang Y, Yan F, Li S, Wang Y, Ma Y. Effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy on pain in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Nurs Sci. Jan 10 2021;8(1):30-37. doi:10.1016/j.ijnss.2020.12.009
  5. Tahan M, Saleem T, Sadeghifar A, Ahangri E. Assessing the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy on alleviation of anxiety in pre-school children: A randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials Commun. Aug 2022;28:100947. doi:10.1016/j.conctc.2022.100947
  6. Jennings ML, Granger DA, Bryce CI, Twitchell D, Yeakel K, Teaford PA. Effect of animal assisted interactions on activity and stress response in children in acute care settings. Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. Nov 2021;8:100076. doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100076