Abstract
To date there have been no studies examining whether patients want emergency department (ED) therapy dog programs. This patient-oriented study examined the opinions of patients about whether they would want to be visited by a therapy dog in the Royal University Hospital ED. Cross-sectional survey data were collected over a six week period from a convenience sample of 100 adult patients who had not been visited by a therapy dog in the ED. Most (80%) indicated they would want a visit by a therapy dog as an ED patient. A higher proportion of individuals who currently have a pet dog (95%) or identify as having lots of experience with dogs (71%) were more likely to indicate this want compared to those without a dog (90%) or little to no experience with dogs (62%). The majority were also of the opinion that patients may want to visit a therapy dog in the ED to reduce anxiety (92%) and frustration (87%) as well as to increase comfort (90%) and satisfaction (90%) and to a lesser extent to reduce pain (59%). There was no significant difference in findings by gender or age, other than a higher proportion of older adults and females identifying cultural background and tradition as a possible reason that patients may not want to be visited by a therapy dog. The findings of this study can help guide considerations for future ED therapy dog programs.
Highlights
The number of companion animals in Canadian households has increased over the past decade with approximately 41% of households containing a dog and 37% a cat [1]
Building from Dell et al.’s Canadian study of the experiences of patients visited by a therapy dog in the Royal University Hospital (RUH) emergency department (ED), the current study aims to provide empirical evidence of patient opinion on desire to be visited by a therapy dog in the ED and why or why not [14]
Opinion of Therapy Dogs Visiting in the ED
Summary
The number of companion animals in Canadian households has increased over the past decade with approximately 41% of households containing a dog and 37% a cat [1]. While the cat population has stabilized over the past several years in Canada, the dog population has increased [1]. Emerging research has indicated that interacting with companion animals can have a positive effect on humans, including improved psychological, emotional, and physical health [2,3,4,5]. They refer to the benefits to human health from interacting with animals, focusing on companion animals, as zooeyia [6]. Therapy dogs have been gaining acceptance as a complementary health intervention over the past decade in a variety of health care settings. Therapy dogs are companion animals who volunteer
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