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StressCANINE IINCT03628820

Canine Assisted Therapy to Reduce Emergency Care Provider Stress

A study testing Dog Therapy and Coloring in people with Stress and Anxiety, run by Indiana University at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The main study hypothesis is that emergency healthcare workers on shift who interact for 5 min with a therapy dog and handler will have lower perceived and manifested stress response compared with use of a time out that includes voluntary use of a coloring mandalas. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Stress, Anxiety
What is being tested?
Dog Therapy and Coloring
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
119 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
17 May 2018to 9 Aug 2019
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Inclusion criteria require that participants work full time as either a nurse or physician in the Eskenazi emergency department and are willing to consent to participation.
  • Participants will include residents, faculty and nurses who work in the emergency department

Who cannot join

  • Exclusions include any reported prior fear or adverse reaction to dogs

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Indiana University

    Indianapolis, Indiana, 46202

Other trials in United States

About this study

The main study hypothesis is that emergency healthcare workers on shift who interact for 5 min with a therapy dog and handler will have lower perceived and manifested stress response compared with use of a time out that includes voluntary use of a coloring mandalas. The work will also address two exploratory hypotheses: The first is that salivary cortisol will correlate significantly with perceived stress and will increase from beginning to end of shift, and that exposure to a therapy dog will blunt this increase. The second exploratory hypothesis states that participants who interact with a therapy dog will display more empathic behaviors.

Conditions
Stress, Anxiety
Being tested
Dog Therapy, Coloring
Keywords
Stress, Anxiety, Cortisol, Therapy, Dog, Coloring, Mandala
Medical subject headings
Anxiety Disorders

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Dog TherapyBehavioural

    5 minutes spent with therapy dog during shift

  • ColoringBehavioural

    5 minutes spend coloring mandalas during shift

Study groups in NCT03628820
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Therapy DogExperimentalThis group is exposed to the therapy dog and handler. On a convenience sample of shifts, a dog will be available. Participants will not know when dogs will be present and will not be informed of whether or not they will see a dog on any given shift. The dog and handler will be kept out of site of other providers. Participants who agree to participate will be approached by study personnel between 3 and 7 hours into his or her shift and asked "would now be a good time to see a therapy dog?" If the physician answers yes, then the physician will be escorted to a separate private, quiet room away from the usual work area to interact with a therapy dog and handler. We will ask the physician to spend approximately 5 minutes with the therapy dog, but will not specify or mandate any time. Study personnel will record the time spent. Only the handler and dog will be present in the room.
Receives: Behavioral: Dog Therapy
Mandala ColoringExperimentalThis group is not exposed to the therapy dog or handler. At 3-7 hours into the shift, study personnel will encourage providers to take a 5 min period of mindfulness, achieved by coloring mandalas. Participants will be escorted out of the work area to the same private, quiet room where the interaction occurs with the dog and handler in the therapy dog group. Participants will have their choice of one of three mandalas to color and will be provided a full palette of colored pencils. When the provider's time is up, study personnel will notify them of the five minute period. Study personnel will not be present in the room but will photograph the work when the participant is done with the session and record the image in REDcap. The original art work will be returned to the provider.
Receives: Behavioral: Coloring
No InterventionNo interventionThis group is not exposed to the therapy dog or handler.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Cortisol change

    Time and location of shift and times of each measurement. T1: As soon as practicable at shift start: Baseline perceived stress scale and anxiety scale (shown below) and approximately 100 uL of saliva using a commercial kit (Salimetrics® 1-3002 (5PK 1-3002-5)). Saliva is collected > 10 min after any eating or drinking. T2: Repeat perceived stress scale, anxiety scale and saliva approximately 15-30 min after exposure to the dog and handler or the coloring.

    Scale 0 to 10

    0=balanced mood 2=slight fear and worry 4= mild fear and worry 6=moderate worry, physical agitation 8= strong agitation, pacing, can't sit still 10= out of control behavior, self-harm

    Measured: 4 hours

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted14 Aug 2018
  2. Study start17 May 2018
  3. Primary completion9 Aug 2019
  4. Study completion9 Aug 2019

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
119 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03628820
Sponsor's protocol ID
1804891471
Acronym
CANINE II
Status last verified
Feb 2020
First submitted
18 Jul 2018
Last updated
17 Feb 2020
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Dog Therapy and Coloring in people with Stress and Anxiety, run by Indiana University at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 17 Feb 2020. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Cortisol change (time frame: 4 hours). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 17 Feb 2020.

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