Animal-Assisted Interventions for the Improvement of Mental Health Outcomes in Higher Education Students: A Systematic Review of Randomised Controlled Trials.

Charlotte Parbery-Clark,Marvellas Lubamba,Louise Tanner,Elaine Mccoll

doi:10.3390/ijerph182010768

Abstract

Background: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs), particularly Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal-Assisted Activity (AAA), in improving mental health outcomes for students in higher education. The number of students in higher education reporting mental health problems and seeking support from universities’ student support services has risen over recent years. Therefore, providing engaging interventions, such as AAIs, that are accessible to large groups of students are attractive. Methods: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched from relative inception to end of April 2020. Additionally, a grey literature search was undertaken. Independent screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment were completed, with varying percentages, by two reviewers. Results: After de-duplication, 6248 articles were identified of which 11 studies were included in the narrative synthesis. The evidence from randomised controlled trials suggests that AAIs could provide short-term beneficial results for anxiety in students attending higher education but with limited evidence for stress, and inconclusive evidence for depression, well-being and mood. For the non-statistically significant results, the studies either did not include a power calculation or were under-powered. Conclusions: Potential emerging evidence for the short-term benefits of AAI for anxiety, and possibly stress, for students in higher education was found.

Highlights

Published: 14 October 2021Attending higher education commonly represents a major life transition for young people, with it often being the first time living away from the family home, which can bring social, financial and academic stressors [1,2]
The pooled evidence suggests that Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs) could provide short-term beneficial results for anxiety, and possibly stress, in this population, known to be at risk of mental health issues
Caution is required as these results were from studies at high risk of bias for the outcomes of interest for this systematic review with mostly medium strength evidence, and in various cultural settings

Summary

Introduction

Published: 14 October 2021Attending higher education commonly represents a major life transition for young people, with it often being the first time living away from the family home, which can bring social, financial and academic stressors [1,2]. A possible solution may be the provision of interventions aimed at reducing stress and anxiety as well as boosting mental health and well-being that are appealing, effective, and accessible to large groups of students [6]. In this respect, part of the solution could be Animal Assisted. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs), Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) and AnimalAssisted Activity (AAA), in improving mental health outcomes for students in higher education. Independent screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment were completed, with varying percentages, by two reviewers

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion