Examining the Impact of Virtual Animal Stimuli on College Students’ Affect and Perception of their Academic Advising Experience

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Student’s mental health and well-being is a growing concern on college campuses, yet barriers such as stigma, lack of awareness, or long waitlists for services can prevent students from seeking help. While the benefits of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have been established in the literature, accessibility of animals within public spaces or interactions with some populations can present limitations to the use of AAI. This research examines the impact of animal visual stimuli as an alternative to help address the limitations to using AAI. In this study, college students are presented with randomized one-minute videos of either nature, wild animals, companion animals or a control condition prior to virtual advising appointments to measure the impact of the type of stimuli on their well-being, perceptions of their advisor and their university. Results indicated all animal videos increased well-being measures and companion animal stimuli influenced the student’s perception of the advisor but had no impact on student’s perception of the university. The findings support that computer-mediated interventions fill an important service gap to improve well-being outcomes when individuals do not have access to traditional forms of AAI assistance and can ultimately have a broader impact outside of advising and the university. ABSTRACT: The benefits of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) involving animals in therapy are widely accepted. The presence of animals in therapy can decrease a patient’s reservation about therapy and promote a sense of comfort and rapport during the therapy process. Using survey data from college students (n = 152) attending a large public four-year institution, this study is the first to investigate the benefits of virtual animal stimuli during academic advising appointments. It posits that exposure to virtual animal stimuli can influence positive mental health and well-being in academic advising settings. Specifically, the research questions explored how different types of video content influence students’ affect and how virtual animal stimuli impact students’ perception of their advisor and university. College students were randomly assigned to watch one of four types of virtual stimuli (wild animals, companion animals, nature, and a control) prior to their advising session. Subjective measures were collected at baseline and after the advising session. Results indicated animal stimuli increase positive affect, and companion animal stimuli influence the student’s perception of the advisor. This study supports the notion that companion animal videos positively impact students’ well-being and interactions with their advisors and may have broader implications beyond the academic setting.