The Impact of a Therapy Dog Team on Medical Students’ Physiological Stress and Perceived Anxiety Prior to an Exam

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that a therapy dog team may have a positive impact on medical students’ anxiety. However, no controlled studies have evaluated this intervention’s effect on their stress and anxiety before an exam. Twelve medical students participated in this study. Utilizing a repeated-measures design, each participant interacted with a therapy dog team before one exam and engaged in their regular pre-exam routine before another. Participants then recorded their level of perceived anxiety and had salivary cortisol levels measured. Results: Both conditions significantly decreased salivary cortisol levels from baseline. Additionally, perceived anxiety was significantly lower after interacting with the therapy dog team when compared to engaging in one’s regular pre-exam routine. This controlled study is the first to assess the impact of a therapy dog team on medical students’ exam stress and anxiety. Results support pre-exam interaction with a therapy dog team to reduce stress and anxiety.

KEYWORDS:

• Therapy dog
• medical students
• stress and anxiety
• exam stress and anxiety
• creativity in counseling

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Marty and his beautiful golden retriever, Rocco, for being such a wonderful therapy dog team! We could not have completed this project with you.

Disclosure statement

We have no funding or known conflict of interests to disclose.