NCT05089201

A Pilot Study to Examine the Impact of a Therapy Dog Intervention on Loneliness and Related Health Outcomes in Vulnerable Populations

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 72 (actual)
• Sponsor: Virginia Commonwealth University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this research study is to test whether an animal-assisted interaction (AAI) intervention is better than conversation with another person or treatment as usual for improving mood, anxiety, loneliness, quality of life, and indicators of health care services such as number of hospitalizations, length of hospital stay, and cost of services. Participants will be patients admitted for an inpatient stay at Virginia Commonwealth University Health who meet the study entry requirements.

Detailed description

Participants will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to receive one of the following interventions: 1. Animal-assisted interaction (a dog-handler team will visit them in their hospital room) 2. Conversational interaction with just participants and the handler 3. Treatment as usual (the regular services patients are currently receiving in the hospital) Participation in this study will last six months. This includes the three days on which participants will receive one of the interventions described above, plus completing some questionnaires online or by phone one month and six months after the baseline visit. These questionnaires will ask questions about pet ownership, relationship with pets participants have had, loneliness, depression, anxiety, health-related quality of life, significant life events in the past year, and social supports. Approximately 180 individuals will participate in this study.

Conditions

• Loneliness
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Quality of Life

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Animal-assisted interaction	A dog-handler team or a handler alone will visit participants with a dog for approximately 20 minutes on 3 consecutive days during their inpatient hospital stay
BEHAVIORAL	Conversational control	A handler alone will visit participants without a dog for approximately 20 minutes on 3 consecutive days during their inpatient hospital stay

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-11-16
• Primary completion: 2024-01-31
• Completion: 2024-01-31
• First posted: 2021-10-22
• Last updated: 2024-04-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States