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Effects of Pet Therapy on Pain in Cancer Patients

NCT00431639 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE2 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 36

Last updated 2019-04-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This study will examine how animal-assisted therapy (AAT) affects aspects of pain. It will explore the possible benefits of the National Institutes of Health's AAT program on distress in cancer patients receiving pain and palliative care at the NIH Clinical Center. A number of studies on the benefits of patients interacting with companion animals have shown a positive effect of both pet ownership and AAT for patients with chronic illness. However, few such experimental studies have been conducted with cancer patients.

Patients 18 years of age and older who have been diagnosed with cancer and have been referred for consult with NIH's pain and palliative care team and recreation therapy may be eligible for this study.

Participants have two study sessions, each lasting about 20 minutes on two different days. In one session, they visit with an animal assistant therapy dog and its handler. In the other session they engage in a conversation that the patient identifies as non-stressful. Patients are asked to fill out four forms before and after each session with questions and statements about their pain, attitude towards pets, symptoms they might be having, and demographic information, such as age, sex, marital status, and so forth. On four separate occasions, 1 teaspoon of blood is drawn and a swab of saliva is collected from the mouth up to an hour after the session.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Animal Assisted Therapy

Every subject will be exposed to both treatment and comparison conditions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

    lead NIH

Principal Investigators

  • Ann M Cohen Berger, M.D. · National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
110 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2005-02-04
Primary Completion
2009-01-22
Completion
2018-12-21

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00431639 on ClinicalTrials.gov