Measuring Effects of Contact to Dogs

NCT ID: NCT04696419

Last Updated: 2021-11-10

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 46 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-10-01
• Study Completion Date: 2021-10-01

Brief Summary

The study aims to identify and quantify objective non-invasive measures of the immediate effect of contact with dogs in a standardized experimental setup. Employing a within-subject design, the study includes healthy participants that are exposed to three different levels of contact to a dog compared with a no-dog control condition while obtaining measures of both physiological, behavioral, and psychological effects.

Detailed Description

Using a within-subjects design, we will compare four standardised and controlled test situations with different levels of dog contact:

1) visual (V), 2) tactile and visual (TV), 3) tactile, visual, interaction (TVI), and 4)control (C).

The participants will be subjected to all four test situations on the same day, and will be randomly allocated to test order.

On the test day, we collect background information and baseline measures for the participants (baseline period, duration: 50 minutes), whereafter they rest for 30 minutes (pre-intervention rest period). After this the participants are subjected to the four test situations (10 minutes each) that are followed by rest intervals (30 minutes each).

The participants' interaction with the dog during the 10-minute test situations are standardised according to the specific contact treatment. Most physiological and all behavioural measures are recorded continuously throughout each test in order for us to link the "dosage" of dog (the different levels of contact) with the psychological responses and some physiological measures obtained before an after each test situation.

Below is shown the exact time schedule of the test day, that we refer to when describing the outcome measures. The baseline period (30 minutes) is not included in the total test period (total duration= 190 minutes), that consist of a pre-intervention and intervention period.

• Baseline period (50 minutes - not part of total test period)
• Pre-intervention period (start, t=0 minutes; end t= 30 minutes)
• Test situation 1 (start, t=30 minutes; end, t=40 minutes)
• Rest period 1 (start, t=40 minutes, end, t= 70 minutes)
• Test situation 2 (start, t=70 minutes; end, t=80 minutes)
• Rest period 2 (start, t=80 minutes, end, t= 110 minutes)
• Test situation 3 (start, t=110 minutes; end, t=120 minutes)
• Rest period 3 (start, t=120 minutes, end, t= 150 minutes)
• Test situation 4 (start, t=150 minutes; end, t=160 minutes)
• Rest period 4 (start, t=160 minutes, end, t= 190 minutes)

Conditions

Physiological Responses to Contact With Dogs; Psychological Responses to Contact With Dogs; Behavioural Responses to Contact With Dogs

Keywords

Animal-assisted therapy; Non-invasive measure; Human-animal contact

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

ANIMAL CONTACT 1

Only one arm - within-subject design

Group Type: OTHER

Different intensities of contact to dogs

Intervention Type: OTHER

Each subject is exposed to four test situations of 10 minutes. Three situations with increasing intensity of dog contact, and one control test situation with no contact to a dog. The order of the test situations is random and with 30 minute washout in-between

Interventions

Different intensities of contact to dogs

Each subject is exposed to four test situations of 10 minutes. Three situations with increasing intensity of dog contact, and one control test situation with no contact to a dog. The order of the test situations is random and with 30 minute washout in-between

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Normal cognitive functioning and physical movement
• Ability to speak and read Danish

Exclusion Criteria

• Known medical, psychiatric or neurological disease
• Use of psychotropic medications
• Frequent use of pain medication
• Use of illegal psychotropic drugs
• Known allergies to dogs

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

Sponsors

University of Aarhus

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Karen Thodberg

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Senior researcher

Locations

Aarhus University

Tjele, , Denmark

Countries

Denmark

References

Fuglsang-Damgaard LH, Lunde SJ, Christensen JW, Vase L, Videbech PB, Thodberg K. Human physiological responses to different types of human-dog interactions: A randomised crossover study. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2024 Nov;57:101899. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2024.101899. Epub 2024 Aug 26.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 39217835 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

128534

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

ANIMAL CONTACT1

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id