Human Animal Interaction
Therapy dogs bring moments of calm to older adult inpatients
New research shows therapy dogs can ease anxiety and lift mood in hospital patients
Hospital stays can be stressful at any age, but for older adults, they often come with added challenges such as reduced mobility, complex treatments, and long stretches of isolation. This combination can take a toll on mental health, increasing the risk of anxiety, low mood, and depression.
A randomized controlled pilot study by Gee et al., supported by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute and published in Healthcare, set out to answer the question: Could short, structured interactions with a therapy dog and their handler help lift spirits and reduce anxiety for older patients during their hospital stay?
Hospital inpatients aged ≥59 years who were expected to stay for at least five days were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Each group involved a 20-minute intervention, which was repeated on three consecutive days:
Animal-assisted interaction: Visit from a therapy dog and handler team for a non-scripted interaction
Conversational control: Visit from a therapy dog’s handler only for a non-scripted interaction
Usual care: No visits beyond usual hospital care
What did the research find?
Immediate impact – Patients in the animal-assisted intervention group showed a measurable boost in mood and a drop in anxiety immediately after each session.
Therapy dogs – Benefits were not seen to the same degree in the handler-only group, indicating that there is something special about the presence of a dog above and beyond interaction with people.
Patient satisfaction – Those who spent time with therapy dogs rated their experience more highly than those receiving usual care.
Effect on depression – While therapy dogs were shown to bring a measurable boost in mood immediately after each session, there were no significant differences in changes in depression from baseline to the day after the intervention between those who had spent time with therapy dogs and those who had not. There were also no significant differences in changes in depression from baseline to 1 and 6 months after the study period between those who spent time with therapy dogs and others who had not.
What do these findings mean for the future?
The benefits seen in this study were temporary, but the researchers suggest this did offer moments of calm and connection for those facing challenging medical situations. Therapy dog visits could be one way to reduce stress and anxiety during hospital stays, offering some emotional relief.
This research adds to the growing evidence that animal-assisted interventions can have beneficial effects on human mental health.
