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

NCT ID: NCT03849144

Last Updated: 2024-10-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: WITHDRAWN
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-03-15
• Study Completion Date: 2019-07-12

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.

Detailed Description

This study will be conducted at Aetna Headquarters in Hartford, Connecticut. A pre-post repeated measures design will be used to compare study participant outcomes between a treatment (therapy dog activity) and comparison (low impact physical activity) condition. Outcome variables of interest are perceived stress measured by a stress visual analog scale (SVAS), mood measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and job satisfaction and commitment measured by an investigator-developed Job Satisfaction Survey (consisting of a combination of existing validated scales). Pet ownership, attitudes toward dogs measured by the Dog Attitude Scale, and trait stress, measured by the Perceived Stress Scale, will be assessed as moderating variables.

Conditions

Stress; Mood; Job Satisfaction

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Therapy dog activity

Interact with visiting therapy dogs for 15 minutes on two Fridays

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Therapy dog activity

Intervention Type: 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

Low impact physical activity

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

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Low impact exercise

Intervention Type: 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.

Interventions

Therapy dog activity

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

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Low impact exercise

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.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Current Aetna employees

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Pet Partners

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Aetna, Inc.

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Virginia Commonwealth University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Sandra Barker, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Virginia Commonwealth University

Other Identifiers

HM20014106

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id