The Effect of a Therapy Dog Activity on Employees' Stress, Mood, and Job Satisfaction and Commitment

The goal of the current study is to determine if participating in a therapy dog activity is associated with changes in perceived stress, mood, and job satisfaction and commitment. A secondary goal is to explore a potential dose effect of multiple treatments as well as control for novelty effect.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Stress; Mood; Job Satisfaction
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Therapy dog activity; Behavioral: Low impact exercise

Detailed Description

This study will be conducted at Aetna Headquarters in Hartford, Connecticut. A pre-post repeated measures design will be used to compare study participant outcomes between a treatment (therapy dog activity) and comparison (low impact physical activity) condition. Outcome variables of interest are perceived stress measured by a stress visual analog scale (SVAS), mood measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and job satisfaction and commitment measured by an investigator-developed Job Satisfaction Survey (consisting of a combination of existing validated scales). Pet ownership, attitudes toward dogs measured by the Dog Attitude Scale, and trait stress, measured by the Perceived Stress Scale, will be assessed as moderating variables.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • Hartford, Connecticut, United States, 06156
      • Aetna Headquarters
  • Virginia
    • Richmond, Virginia, United States, 23298
      • Virginia Commonwealth University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Current Aetna employees

Exclusion Criteria:

• Individuals not employed by Aetna. Note:employees are self-selecting to participate, therefore dog fears or allergies are not listed as exclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Therapy dog activity; Interact with visiting therapy dogs for 15 minutes on two Fridays	Behavioral: Therapy dog activity; Visiting therapy dogs and their owners, evaluated and registered as therapy dog teams with Pet Partners will be spread around a large room on the Aetna campus. Employees will arrive at scheduled times to visit with the dogs for 15 minutes, talking to the dogs and owners and petting the dogs
Active Comparator: Low impact physical activity; Participate in 15-minute low impact physical activity on two Fridays	Behavioral: Low impact exercise; The low impact exercise will consist of stretching exercises conducted by a member of Aetna's wellness team in the same room for 15 minutes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Single Item Stress Measure	Changes in self reported stress on visual analog scale (VAS) immediately before and after each activity. Scale ranges from "none" to "most severe imaginable" on 15 cm scale.	Baseline to week 3
20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule	Self reported mood immediately before and after each activity. Each item is scored 1-5 (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). 10 items comprise the positive affect scale with scores ranging from 10 - 50, with higher scores indicating higher positive affect. 10 items comprise the negative affect scale with total scores ranging from 10 - 50, with lower scores indicating lower negative affect.	Baseline to week 3

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Single Item Stress Measure	Changes in self reported stress on visual analog scale (VAS) after two intervention activities. Scale ranges from "none" to "most severe imaginable" on 15 cm scale.	Baseline to week 5
20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule	Self reported mood two intervention activities. Each item is scored 1-5 (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). 10 items comprise the positive affect scale with scores ranging from 10 - 50, with higher scores indicating higher positive affect. 10 items comprise the negative affect scale with total scores ranging from 10 - 50, with lower scores indicating lower negative affect.	Baseline to week 5
9-item Job Satisfaction and Commitment Scale	Self reported job satisfaction ( 3 items) and commitment (6 items) at baseline, after the first and last activity. Each item is scored 1-5 (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Total scores range from 9-45 with higher scores indicating greater job satisfaction and commitment	Baseline to week 5

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Virginia Commonwealth University
• Collaborators: Aetna, Inc.; Pet Partners
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sandra Barker, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 15, 2019
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 10, 2019
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 12, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 21, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 19, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): February 21, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 15, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 11, 2024
• Last Verified: October 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HM20014106

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No