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The Role of Therapy Dogs in Reducing Depression, Anxiety, and Loneliness Among Hospitalized Children

NCT05551156 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 67

Last updated 2025-04-27

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The purpose of this research study is to test whether an animal-assisted intervention (AAI) is better than conversation with another person or treatment as usual for improving mood, anxiety, loneliness, quality of life, and indicators of health care services such as number of hospitalizations, length of hospital stay, and cost of services for children and adolescents.

Conditions

  • Hospitalized Children

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Animal-assisted interaction

Visits will occur on 3 consecutive days during your participant's inpatient hospital stay. A dog-handler team or a handler alone will visit participants with a dog for approximately 20 minutes at a convenient time for the participant. During this visit, the participant will be able to pet the dog if they wish. The handler will talk with the participants about the dog, the weather, sports, or other light topics. Participants can also suggest light topics to talk about as well.

BEHAVIORAL

Conversational interaction

Visits will occur on 3 consecutive days during your participant's inpatient hospital stay. A dog-handler team or a handler alone will visit participants without a dog for approximately 20 minutes at a convenient time for the participant. During this visit, the handler will talk with the participants about the weather, sports, or other light topics. Participants can also suggest light topics to talk about as well.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Purina Mills, Inc

    collaborator UNKNOWN

  • Virginia Commonwealth University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Nancy R Gee, PhD · Virginia Commonwealth University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
8 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-06-30
Primary Completion
2025-02-17
Completion
2025-02-17

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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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 NCT05551156 on ClinicalTrials.gov