Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits

A Study of the Pawsitive Impacts of Therapy Dog Visits With Adult Emergency Department Pain Patients

The goal of this unique 18 month study is to better understand the experiences of pain patients in the Royal University Hospital (RUH) Emergency Department (ED), to create excellence in health care. The purpose is to measure the impact of visiting therapy dogs on reducing ED patient pain.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pain; Pain, Acute; Pain, Chronic; Pain, Intractable
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Therapy Dog Team Visit

Detailed Description

The goal of this unique 18 month study is to better understand the experiences of pain patients in the Royal University Hospital (RUH) Emergency Department (ED), to create excellence in health care. The purpose is to measure the impact of visiting therapy dogs on reducing ED patient pain.

The background rationale is that pain is the primary reason individuals attend an ED, patient pain is generally not well managed in EDs, Saskatchewan EDs have among the longest wait times in the country, and anxiety associated with ED waiting can negatively impact patients' pain.

Research suggests a therapy dog can change patients' perceptions of pain and its intensity and facilitate relaxation. The intervention will be examined for its impact on patients' sensory pain (i.e., physical pain severity), affective pain (i.e., emotional pain unpleasantness) and anxiety.

It is important to find creative, low-cost ways to respond to patients attending the ED for pain. The primary objective of this study is to generate new health-related knowledge on the ED pain patient experience. The secondary objectives are to implement effective end-of-grant knowledge translation and dissemination strategies and undertake a successful model of collaborative, multidisciplinary research among researchers, patient advisors and system representatives, rooted in a One Health framework.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 211
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Saskatchewan
    • Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N 0W8
      • Royal University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Over the age of 18
• Able to provide consent
• Attending the Emergency Department because of pain/discomfort
• Canadian Triage and Acuity Score (CTAS) of 2-5
• Willing to visit with a therapy dog team (intervention group only)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pain medications (specifically immediate release acetaminophen and opioid analgesics) within an hour prior to the visit

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Therapy Dog Team Visit; Patient interacts with the therapy dog and handler.	Behavioral: Therapy Dog Team Visit; For the intervention group, patient interacts with the therapy dog, handler shares information about the therapy dog, asks about patient's pets, and offers a trading card of the therapy dog at the conclusion of the visit.
No Intervention: No Therapy Dog Team Visit; No patient interaction with the therapy dog or handler.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Pain Scores	Participants Stratified by Pain scores Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Pain Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit.	20 minutes post visit
Change in Pain Score	Pain score using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes.	Baseline visit compared to 20 minutes post-visit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Anxiety Scores	Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Anxiety Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit	20 minutes post-visit
Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Depression Scores	Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Depression Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit	20 minutes post-visit
Number of Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (Revised Version) (ESAS-r) Well-Being Scores	Participants Stratified by Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (revised version) (ESAS-r) 11-point rating scale (scale of 0 to 10), in which higher ratings indicate worse outcomes, Well-being Scores at 20 Minutes Post Visit.	20 minutes post-visit
Change in Blood Pressure	Mean arterial blood pressure using a blood pressure cuff	20 minutes post-visit
Change in Heart Rate	Radial pulse	20 minutes post-visit

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Saskatchewan
• Collaborators: Royal University Hospital Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Colleen Dell, University of Saskatchewan

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Carey B, Dell CA, Stempien J, Tupper S, Rohr B, Carr E, Cruz M, Acoose S, Butt P, Broberg L, Collard L, Fele-Slaferek L, Fornssler C, Goodridge D, Gunderson J, McKenzie H, Rubin J, Shand J, Smith J, Trask J, Ukrainetz K, Meier S. Outcomes of a controlled trial with visiting therapy dog teams on pain in adults in an emergency department. PLoS One. 2022 Mar 9;17(3):e0262599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262599. eCollection 2022.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 7, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 20, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): September 20, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 22, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): January 27, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 5, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 7, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pain; Emergency Department; Therapy Dog
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Chronic Pain; Acute Pain; Pain, Intractable
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1253

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

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