Randomized Trial Examining Effects of Animal Assisted Intervention and Stress Related Symptoms on College Students’ Learning and Study Skills

Abstract

Animal Visitation Programs (AVPs) targeting college students’ stress and academic success have increased, despite limited research on academic outcomes. This randomized controlled trial (N = 349) examined the effects of incorporating levels of Human–animal Interaction (HAI) (0%, 50% or 100%) with therapy dogs in a four-week academic stress management program. Conditions included (1) Academic Stress Management (ASM) content only (0% HAI), (2) Human–animal Interaction only (100% HAI) and (3) equal combinations of ASM content and HAI (50% HAI). Intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses examined the effects of students’ risk status (N = 146; depression, anxiety, perceived stress, worry) and treatment condition on students’ learning and study strategies at posttest and follow-up. The results showed interactions between condition and risk status demonstrating higher posttest levels of WILL (i.e., anxiety, attitude, motivation) (Β = 0.582, p = 0.005) and SELFREGULATION (i.e., concentration, self-testing, study aids, time management) (Β = 0.501, p = 0.031) for at-risk students receiving equal combinations of HAI and content presentations. Moderation effects remained at follow-up (Β = 0.626, p = 0.005; Β = 0.630, p = 0.007). At-risk students receiving only HAI (100%) also showed higher levels of WILL at posttest (Β = 0.481, p = 0.021) and follow up (Β = 0.490, p = 0.038). University administrators should consider providing at-risk students with targeted programs with varying levels of HAI and ASM content, depending on the targeted academic outcome.

Dogs Supporting Human Health and Well-Being: A Biopsychosocial Approach

“…These effects may translate to additional effects on students' academic success, learning, and cognition. For instance, a recent randomized controlled trial ( 51 ) paired a standard academic stress management program with therapy dog interaction; the pairing produced significantly higher levels of self-reported enjoyment, usefulness, self-regulation, and behavior change than the stress management program or dog interaction alone. However, when therapy dog interaction is closely paired with more specific learning experiences, beneficial effects on stress remain, but benefits to academic performance may not manifest.…”

Exploring Dog-Assisted Interventions in Higher Education: Students’ Attitudes and Perceived Effects on Well-Being

“…Although providing this kind of intervention to college and university students is a fairly new undertaking [ 26 ], there is promising evidence that AAIs can, amongst others, result in higher ratings of momentary positive emotions, a reduction in stress-related negative emotions [ 27 , 28 ], psychological and physical markers of stress [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], anxiety [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], and homesickness while increasing their satisfaction with life, connectedness to campus [ 37 , 38 ], behavioral aspects of academic success [ 39 ], well-being and improving their social skills as well as their mood [ 29 , 33 , 40 ]. Furthermore, Daltry and Mehr [ 41 ] found that having animals on campus may promote the services offered by student counseling centers on campus, as a lot of students were unaware of them before implementing the AAI.…”

Animals in higher education settings: Do animal-assisted interventions improve mental and cognitive health outcomes of students? A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In general, most studies had more female than male participants, and participants were mostly of “typical” undergraduate age (mean 20.2 years, median 19.7 years). In almost all studies (n=29) the intervention animal was a dog [43,43,44,46–70]. Most studies (n=27) used active intervention conditions [43– 45,45,46,50,52–55,57,59–62,64–69,71–74], with most taking place in a group setting.…”

“…Outcomes were grouped into mental health outcomes, physiological outcomes and cognitive outcomes. Mental health outcomes were by far the most common (n=26) [43– 45,48,49,51–55,57,59,62–68,70,72–74], followed by physiological outcomes (n=14) [43,45,47,50,51,54,58,60,62,65,67,70,71,74] and cognitive outcomes (n=9) [44,46,47,53,56,58,61,63,69]. Most reported cognitive outcomes were related to students’ academic performance.…”