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Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses
As nursing is one of the most stressful occupations worldwide, its management warrants more attention to identify possible ways to cope with its pressures. This study aims to evaluate whether animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with the presence of a dog affects the stress level of nurses. As a stress bio...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6801790/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31574899 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193670 |
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author | Machová, Kristýna Součková, Michaela Procházková, Radka Vaníčková, Zdislava Mezian, Kamal |
author_facet | Machová, Kristýna Součková, Michaela Procházková, Radka Vaníčková, Zdislava Mezian, Kamal |
author_sort | Machová, Kristýna |
collection | PubMed |
description | As nursing is one of the most stressful occupations worldwide, its management warrants more attention to identify possible ways to cope with its pressures. This study aims to evaluate whether animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with the presence of a dog affects the stress level of nurses. As a stress biomarker, we used salivary cortisol level testing. Twenty female nurses (mean age: 30) in physical medicine (PMR) (n = 11) and the department of internal medicine and long-term care (IM < C) (n = 9). On each of the three observed days, saliva was collected at 10 a.m. and then again after 50 min. The first sampling was performed during a normal working process without a break (Condition A), the second was carried out during a normal working process with a break of choice (Condition B), and the third sampling was performed during a normal working process with a break with AAT (Condition C). All participants were enrolled in all three interventional conditions in a randomized order. The results demonstrated the effect of a reduction of cortisol levels in Condition C, where AAT was included (p = 0.02) only in nurses recruited from the IM < C department. By way of explanation, nurses from the PMR department already showed low cortisol levels at baseline. We propose including AAT with a dog in healthcare facilities where nurses are at a high risk of stress. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6801790 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-68017902019-10-31 Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses Machová, Kristýna Součková, Michaela Procházková, Radka Vaníčková, Zdislava Mezian, Kamal Int J Environ Res Public Health Article As nursing is one of the most stressful occupations worldwide, its management warrants more attention to identify possible ways to cope with its pressures. This study aims to evaluate whether animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with the presence of a dog affects the stress level of nurses. As a stress biomarker, we used salivary cortisol level testing. Twenty female nurses (mean age: 30) in physical medicine (PMR) (n = 11) and the department of internal medicine and long-term care (IM < C) (n = 9). On each of the three observed days, saliva was collected at 10 a.m. and then again after 50 min. The first sampling was performed during a normal working process without a break (Condition A), the second was carried out during a normal working process with a break of choice (Condition B), and the third sampling was performed during a normal working process with a break with AAT (Condition C). All participants were enrolled in all three interventional conditions in a randomized order. The results demonstrated the effect of a reduction of cortisol levels in Condition C, where AAT was included (p = 0.02) only in nurses recruited from the IM < C department. By way of explanation, nurses from the PMR department already showed low cortisol levels at baseline. We propose including AAT with a dog in healthcare facilities where nurses are at a high risk of stress. MDPI 2019-09-30 2019-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6801790/ /pubmed/31574899 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193670 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Machová, Kristýna Součková, Michaela Procházková, Radka Vaníčková, Zdislava Mezian, Kamal Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses |
title | Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses |
title_full | Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses |
title_fullStr | Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses |
title_full_unstemmed | Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses |
title_short | Canine-Assisted Therapy Improves Well-Being in Nurses |
title_sort | canine-assisted therapy improves well-being in nurses |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6801790/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31574899 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193670 |
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