The Effect of a Therapy Dog Activity on Employees' Stress, Mood, and Job Satisfaction and Commitment

NCT03849144 | Withdrawn

• 1 other identifier: HM20014106
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: N/A
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The goal of the current study is to determine if participating in a therapy dog activity is associated with changes in perceived stress, mood, and job satisfaction and commitment. A secondary goal is to explore a potential dose effect of multiple treatments as well as control for novelty effect.

Conditions

Stress; Mood; Job Satisfaction

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Single Item Stress Measure

  Changes in self reported stress on visual analog scale (VAS) immediately before and after each activity. Scale ranges from "none" to "most severe imaginable" on 15 cm scale.

  Baseline to week 3

• 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

  Self reported mood immediately before and after each activity. Each item is scored 1-5 (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). 10 items comprise the positive affect scale with scores ranging from 10 - 50, with higher scores indicating higher positive affect. 10 items comprise the negative affect scale with total scores ranging from 10 - 50, with lower scores indicating lower negative affect.

  Baseline to week 3

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Single Item Stress Measure

  Baseline to week 5

• 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

  Baseline to week 5

• 9-item Job Satisfaction and Commitment Scale

  Baseline to week 5

Study Arms (2)

Therapy dog activity

EXPERIMENTAL

Interact with visiting therapy dogs for 15 minutes on two Fridays

Behavioral: Therapy dog activity

Low impact physical activity

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participate in 15-minute low impact physical activity on two Fridays

Behavioral: Low impact exercise

Interventions

Therapy dog activity BEHAVIORAL

Visiting therapy dogs and their owners, evaluated and registered as therapy dog teams with Pet Partners will be spread around a large room on the Aetna campus. Employees will arrive at scheduled times to visit with the dogs for 15 minutes, talking to the dogs and owners and petting the dogs

Therapy dog activity

Low impact exercise BEHAVIORAL

The low impact exercise will consist of stretching exercises conducted by a member of Aetna's wellness team in the same room for 15 minutes.

Low impact physical activity

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Current Aetna employees

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Virginia Commonwealth University: lead
• Pet Partners: collaborator
• Aetna, Inc.: collaborator

Study Officials

• Sandra Barker, PhD

  Virginia Commonwealth University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 21, 2018
• First Posted: February 21, 2019
• Study Start: March 15, 2019
• Primary Completion: May 10, 2019
• Study Completion: July 12, 2019
• Last Updated: October 15, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-10