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. 2022 Sep 1;52(9):498-502.
doi: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000001188.

A Correlational Study Exploring Nurse Work Anxiety and Animal-Assisted Therapy

Jeffrey A Coto  1 , Erika K Ohlendorf, Andrea E Cinnamon, Teresa L Ellis, Margaret A Ondrey, Paige Bartuch
Affiliations

A Correlational Study Exploring Nurse Work Anxiety and Animal-Assisted Therapy

Jeffrey A Coto et al. J Nurs Adm. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a correlational study to explore nurse work anxiety.

Background: Nurses experience work anxiety with chronic stressful situations, high-acuity assignments, and rigorous patient care standards. The purpose of this study was to determine whether animal-assisted therapy during active worked hours would reduce nurse work-related anxiety.

Methods: Animal-assisted therapy interventions were performed for both day and night shifts. Beck's Anxiety Inventory (BAI) tool was used pre and post intervention. Each nurse interacted with the therapy dog for at least 10 minutes.

Results: Pet-assisted therapy as an intervention for nurses during work reduced work-related anxiety (t = 5.878, P < 0.05). A Pearson's correlational study displayed a strong positive correlation between the animal-assisted therapy and reduction in BAI scores (r = 0.7717, R2 = 0.5955).

Conclusion: This prospective study has shown that nurse work anxiety significantly decreased during worked hours of active bedside care when the nurses actively engaged with a therapy dog.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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