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.
Cite this paper
Williams, C. L. , Dagnan, E. , Miner, K. M. 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, e4364. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104364.
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