Table 3.
Results of Animal-Assisted Intervention Studies in Oncology.
| Author | Psychological endpoints | Physiological endpoints | Other endpoints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aiba et al47 | — | — | — |
| Bibbo44 | Staff note AAI helped patient QoL | — | Pet attitude: staff AAI approval = 8.24 (scale of 1-9) and prior perceptions impacted PE |
| Bouchard et al39 | — | — | — |
| Buettner et al50 | — | — | — |
| Caprilli and Messeri46 | PE: 94% of parents and 96% of staff noted AAI helped children | — | Behavioral Coding [SAM: most children very happy with dog and normal/very happy without; Behavioral scales: child-animal interaction and child awareness = above average and child-environment interaction = average] |
| Cerulli et al9 | QoL: ↑↑↑ | O2Sat: ↑↑↑; Muscle strength: ↑↑↑ | — |
| Chubak et al32 | — | — | — |
| Chubak et al49 | Distress: ↓↓↓; Anxiety: ↓↓↓; Depression: ↓↓↓; Pain: ↓↓↓; Anger: ↓; PE: majority of staff and children noted AAI helped | — | Behavioral Coding [Patient and parent behaviors = generally positive; common acts = dog tricks or handler interactions] |
| Coakley and Mahoney30 | Mood: ↑↑↑; Pain level: ↓; Energy level: ↑; Hostility: ↓↓↓ | HR: ◊; BP: ◊; RR: ↓↓↓ | Pet ownership: 47.5% (uncorrelated with other data) |
| Doobrow52 | — | — | — |
| Fleishman et al25 | QoL (well-being): [social: ↑↑↑, functional and physical: ↓↓↓ and emotional: ◊]; Satisfaction: [psychological aspects = high and physiological aspects = neutral] | — | Pet attitude: patient affinity for animals = 6.08 (high; range of 1 to 7) |
| Gagnon et al40 | — | — | — |
| Ginex et al33 | Anxiety: ↓↓↓ (in both groups); Depression: ↓; Energy level: ↓↓↓ | — | — |
| Haylock and Cantril36 | QoL: ◊ | — | — |
| Johnson et al26 | PE: Both dog group and friendly human group noted AAI helped | — | Group pet ownership: dog = 50%; human = 70%; reading = 50%; (uncorrelated with other data) |
| Johnson et al27 | Mood: ◊; Anxiety: ↓↓↓ (for all groups); PH: ◊; PE: 50% (Dog Group), 90% (Friendly Human Group), and 60% (Reading Group) note AAI helped | — | — |
| Kaminski et al28 | Mood: ↑ (in both groups) | HR: ↑↑↑; Cortisol: ↓ (in both groups) | Behavioral Coding [Time showing positive affect: 46% (exp) and 19% (con); Time showing neutral affect: 53% (exp) and 81% (con); Time showing positive touching: 57% (exp) and N/A (con)] |
| Kumasaka et al34 | — | — | Pet attitude: 80% interested in and 70% liked pets; pet ownership: 95% |
| Larson et al51 | — | — | Pet ownership: 55% |
| Marcus et al41 | PE: 98.2% of respondents welcome another AAI visit | — | Pet ownership: 50% (currently) and 34% (previously); pet attitude: 80% liked dogs and 11% liked cats; (both uncorrelated with other data) |
| McCullough et al23 | Anxiety: ↓↓↓ (in both groups); QoL: ◊ | HR: ↑↑↑; BP: ↑↑↑ | Behavioral Coding [Common acts with dog: petting (92%), talking (69%) and photos (32%)]; pet ownership: 67% |
| McCullough et al24 | — | Cortisol: ◊a | Dog Behavioral Coding [Mean behaviors/session: 9.14 (affiliative), 9.69 (stress) and 0 (high stress); Most coded behaviors/session: oral behaviors (4.52), lip licking (2.31) and tail wagging (1.98); stress and affiliative behaviors correlated significantly] |
| Moreira et al42 | — | — | — |
| Muschel37 | — | — | — |
| Orlandi et al7 | Anxiety: ↓↓↓ (in both groups); Depression: ↓↓↓ (in exp group); Anger: ↓↓↓ (in both groups) | HR: ↓↓↓ (in both groups); BP: ↓↓↓ (in both groups); O2Sat: ↑↑↑ (in exp group) and ↓ (in control group) | — |
| Petranek et al35 | QoL: ↑ | — | — |
| Phung et al31 | Anxiety: ↓↓↓; Pain level: ↓↓↓; Energy Level: ↑↑↑; PE: 94% note AAI helped | — | — |
| Schmitz et al43 | — | — | Qualitative Content Analysis [most common act: “stroking the therapy dog”; most common emotion = “pleasure”]; pet ownership: 33% (currently; dogs = 82%) and 33% (previously) |
| Silva and Osório29 | Distress: ↓↓↓; Anxiety: ↓↓↓; Depression: ↓; Pain Level: ↓↓↓; QoL: ◊ | HR: ◊; BP: ◊ | — |
| Toro del Pilar Valdes38 | — | — | — |
| White et al45 | — | — | Pet attitude: 100% dog lovers; pet ownership: several participants previously owned pets |
| Yom48 | — | — | — |
Abbreviations: ↑, increase; ↑↑↑, significant increase; ↓, decrease; ↓↓↓, significant decrease; ◊, no significant change; AAI, animal-assisted intervention; QoL, quality of Life; PE, perceived effectiveness; O2Sat, oxygen saturation; HR, heart rate; BP, blood pressure; RR, respiration rate; exp, experiment; con, control; N/A, not applicable.
a
McCullough et al24 measured canine salivary cortisol.