Author(s)

Christi L. Williams^*, Emmy Dagnan, Katherine M. Miner, Patrick Sells

School of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences & Nursing, Belmont University, Nashville, TN, USA.

Introduction. Graduate professional educational programs are very rigorous and challenging, often leading to increased physiological stress and perceived anxiety for the enrolled student. Stress and anxiety levels in physical therapy students are higher than that in their age and gender matched peers. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an animal-assisted intervention on stress and anxiety of entry-level physical therapist (PT) students prior to a laboratory practical exam. Subjects. Twenty-three first-year PT students (mean age 23.4 ± 1.70) participated in this study. Methods. A 15-20-minute intervention which either included a therapy dog or no therapy dog was performed prior to the students’ laboratory practical exam. Following the intervention, heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and state anxiety measures using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were obtained. Results were compared to baseline measures as well as between each of four intervention trials using repeated measures ANOVA or Freidman test (alpha level of p < 0.05). A post-participation questionnaire was administered at the end of the study. Results. Statistical significance was found between the no dog trials (Trial 1 & Trial 4) and the dog trials (Trial 2 & Trial 3) for state anxiety (p = 0.000), indicating that state anxiety scores were lower when students were exposed to the therapy dog compared to when no dog was present. No statistically significant effects of the therapy dog were observed for HR, SBP or DBP (p > 0.005). Discussion and Conclusion. The results of this study indicate that animal-assisted interventions may be beneficial in reducing perceived anxiety for students in graduate professional educational programs prior to an examination.

Therapy Animal, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Test Anxiety, Animal-Assisted Interventions

Williams, C. , Dagnan, E. , Miner, K. and Sells, P. (2018) The Effect of an Animal-Assisted Intervention on Physiological Measures of Stress and Anxiety in Graduate Professional Physical Therapy Students. Open Access Library Journal, 5, 1-16. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1104364.