Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Pain, Trauma Injury
Conditions
Keywords
Therapy dogs, Healing pups, Animal assisted therapy (AAT), Traumatic injuries recovery
Brief summary
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).
Detailed description
This study will be a randomized control design. Within 48 hours of admission, the study team will approach eligible patients admitted to the inpatient trauma service to discuss the study and obtain informed consent from patients expected to be admitted for 3-7 days. Consenting patients will be randomized to either a) participate in 2-3 ten-minute dog visits or b) receive 2-3 ten-minute visits with a handler alone. Within 24 hours after the last anticipated study visit, a member of the study team will administer a survey to assess participants' pain, depression, anxiety, mood, and emotional quality of life.
Interventions
OTHERTherapy dog visits
2-3 ten-minute visits by a trained therapy dog and the dog's handler
OTHERDog handler visits
2-3 ten-minute visits by a dog handler
Sponsors
Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center Healing Pups Program
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Patients admitted to the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (TACS) service following a trauma * English or Spanish speaking * Able to provide informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* Fear of dogs, allergy to dogs * Immunocompromised * Contact precautions * Delirious, intubated, or otherwise unable to consent
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Participants' pain assessed with a numeric analog score | 24 hours after the last study visit | The visual analog score ranges from 0 to 10 where 0= no pain and 10 worst pain (5= moderate pain). |
| Participants' pain assessed with pictures of facial expressions | 24 hours after the last study visit | 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. |
| Depression assessed by the Brief Mood Survey | 24 hours after the last study visit | 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. |
| Anxiety assessed by the Brief Mood Survey | 24 hours after the last study visit | 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. |
| Anger assessed by the Brief Mood Survey | 24 hours after the last study visit | There are 5 questions related to feeling angry 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 angry. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional quality of life now | 24 hours after the last study visit | 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. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTSabrina Sanchez, MD MPH
CONTACTSara Myers, MD
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORSabrina Sanchez, MD MPH
Boston Medical Center
Outcome results
None listed