Animal Assisted Activities and their impact on Trauma Factors
Research type
Research Study
Full title
“ Can dogs lead the way?” Animal Assisted Activities and their impact on three Trauma Factors: Compassion, Anxiety and Shame
IRAS ID
168213
Contact name
Nigel Hunt
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study aims to investigate the effect of Animal-Assisted-Activities on female patients in a low secure unit, on three different factors relevant to the development of post-traumatic-stress. Patients at the low secure unit will be placed into three groups, a dog walking group, a pet dog group and a control group with no contact to animals. The three factors relevant to the treatment of trauma chosen for this study are: Compassion, as establishing compassion towards self and others has been supported to be a crucial ability in addressing traumatic events successfully. Shame, which has recently been suggested to be one of the elements supporting the development and the maintenance of trauma. Anxiety, which has always been recognised as the result of traumatic events and reducing this factor, is crucial in enabling successful treatment.
Before participants engage in the groups offered psychometric tools will be administered to gauge initial levels of Anxiety, Shame and Compassion. Beforehand, a short interview will be conducted, identify feelings towards dogs as well as expectations towards the activity. Before and after the group activity, which will last for about six weeks and is offered once a week, another brief psychometric will be administered to determine the immediate short-term effect the dogs have. This will be repeated until the six weeks are over and the initial measures will be re-administered to investigate the effect of the interventions. A short interview will be conducted to address the participant’s feelings towards the dogs they met and if they expectations have been met. The same psychometrics will be administered to the control group at the beginning and at the end of the six weeks and scores will be compared between groups.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0116
Date of REC Opinion
24 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion