Animal-Assisted Intervention and Health Care Workers' Psychological Health: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Daniela Acquadro Maran,Ilaria Capitanelli,Maria Michela Gianino,Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi,Francesco Chirico,Claudio Giovanni Cortese

doi:10.3390/ani12030383

Abstract

Simple SummaryIn health care, animal-assisted intervention has been used primarily to enhance the positive effects of therapy. For example, it has been used with patients suffering from autism spectrum symptoms, medical difficulties, behavioral problems, and emotional disorders. More recently, this type of intervention has been increasingly used in the workplace to mitigate the effects of stress in employees (including healthcare workers). The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the potential benefits of animal-assisted intervention in healthcare workers.Healthcare settings have recently increased the use of companion animals in the workplace to provide emotional support to people with disabilities, but there is limited empirical research on the effects of these programs on healthcare workers. However, it is reasonable to speculate that Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs) may have positive effects on health care workers (HCWs) by buffering the negative effects of work-related stress and other occupational psychosocial risk factors. The aim of this review was to examine the beneficial effects of AAIs on the psychological well-being of HCWs. A systematic review was conducted in December 2021 to gain insight into the positive effects of pets on HCWs in the workplace. Searches were conducted in the following databases: Scopus, PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, including studies between 2001 and December 2021, and 12 articles were included in the review. The results indicate that implementing the AAI program in a busy clinic is feasible and that the program is accepted by medical professionals because of the immense psychological benefits it provides. However, the healthcare professionals disliked the experimental design that forced them to leave their workplaces at a certain time.

Highlights

Psychosocial risks pose a significant threat to workers’ physical and mental well-being and are a tremendous burden on organizations and economies [1,2]
Work-related stress (WRS), emotional demands, and workplace violence have even been linked to mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, irritability, confusion, and chronic stress [6,7], sometimes leading to burnout syndrome (BOS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
The search strategy combined keywords based on health care workers or profession, Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs), non-healthcare worker, and anxiety, depression, work-related stress, BOS, PTSD, or other mental health disorder in accordance with the elements Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome as follows: (“health care workers” OR “health care providers”) AND (“pets” OR “companion animals” OR “dogs”) AND (“animal-assisted therapy” OR “animal-assisted interventions” OR “animalassisted activity”), AND (“work-related stress” OR “workplace health” OR “employee well-being” OR “burnout”)

Summary

Introduction

Psychosocial risks (e.g., work-related stress, emotional demands, and workplace violence) pose a significant threat to workers’ physical and mental well-being and are a tremendous burden on organizations and economies [1,2]. Post-traumatic stress disorder at work (PTSD) has been associated with negative working conditions, frequent occupational or emotional trauma, negative interpersonal relationships, and workplace violence by supervisors, colleagues, or third parties [11,12] These psychosocial risk factors require employers to develop preventive measures, as rehabilitation is complex and medical and cognitive behavioral therapies are not always effective [13,14]. HCWs are experiencing high levels of mental distress, with high rates of anxiety, depression, fear, BOS, and sleep disorders [24,25,26] For this reason, it was found that the COVID-19 pandemic may be considered as a mass traumatic event with negative consequences on the mental well-being of HCWs and caregivers [27], and solutions for preventing, in the future, increased rates of suicides are needed

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