Therapy Dog Visits for Patients Hospitalized With Traumatic Injuries
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorBoston Medical Center
About this trial
Animal assisted therapy (AAT) with dogs has been shown to be beneficial for a wide range of patients with both acute and chronic illnesses, including spinal cord injuries, heart failure, myocardial infarctions, strokes, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. Studies have also demonstrated that even in healthy adults, the presence of dogs is associated with physiologic changes such as increased pain threshold, decreased blood pressure, and decreased heart rate. However, few studies have investigated the role of AAT in the post-operative course in adults. This study will investigate the impact of therapy dog visits on pain and anxiety scores for trauma patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC).
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Patients admitted to the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (TACS) service following a trauma
English or Spanish speaking
Able to provide informed consent
Disqualifiers
Fear of dogs, allergy to dogs
Immunocompromised
Contact precautions
Delirious, intubated, or otherwise unable to consent
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Therapy dog visits
Other intervention2-3 ten-minute visits by a trained therapy dog and the dog's handler
Dog handler visits
Other intervention2-3 ten-minute visits by a dog handler
Treatment groups
80 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Therapy dog visitsExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Dog handler visitsActive comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Participants' pain assessed with a numeric analog score
The visual analog score ranges from 0 to 10 where 0= no pain and 10 worst pain (5= moderate pain).
Time frame
24 hours after the last study visit2
Participants' pain assessed with pictures of facial expressions
The 6 facial pictorial expressions range from 0 to 10 where 0 is a face with a broad smile and 10 is a very sad face with tears.
Time frame
24 hours after the last study visit3
Depression assessed by the Brief Mood Survey
There are 5 questions related to feeling depressed in the Brief Mood Survey with five potential responses of- 'Not at all', 'Somewhat', 'Moderately', 'A lot', and 'Extremely'. The range of scores for each of the 5 questions is 0 to 4, with a summed total score of 0 to 20 for the domain and higher scores are associated with feeling more depressed.
Time frame
24 hours after the last study visit4
Anxiety assessed by the Brief Mood Survey
There are 5 questions related to feeling anxious in the Brief Mood Survey with five potential responses of- 'Not at all', 'Somewhat', 'Moderately', 'A lot', and 'Extremely'. The range of scores for each of the 5 questions is 0 to 4, with a summed total score of 0 to 20 for the domain, and higher scores are associated with feeling more anxious.
Time frame
24 hours after the last study visitSecondary outcomes
1
Emotional quality of life now
The Emoqol-100 will be used to assess emotional quality of life. It is one question, 'How is your emotional quality of life now, with 100 being perfect and 0 being the worst imaginable?' Higher numbers are associated with a better quality of life.
Time frame
24 hours after the last study visitSponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
Boston Medical Center
Lead sponsor
Boston Medical Center Healing Pups Program
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov