School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, School of Science, Bath Spa University, Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 15;17(6):e0269333. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269333. eCollection 2022.
Prolonged or excessive stress negatively affects learning, behavior and health across the lifespan. To alleviate adverse effects of stress in school children, stressors should be reduced, and support and effective interventions provided. Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have shown beneficial effects on health and wellbeing, however, robust knowledge on stress mediation in children is lacking. Despite this, AAIs are increasingly employed in settings world-wide, including schools, to reduce stress and support learning and wellbeing. This study is the first randomized controlled trial to investigate dog-assisted interventions as a mediator of stress in school children with and without special educational needs (SEN) over the school term. Interventions were carried out individually and in small groups twice a week for 20 minutes over the course of 4 weeks. We compared physiological changes in salivary cortisol in a dog intervention group with a relaxation intervention group and a no treatment control group. We compared cortisol level means before and after the 4 weeks of interventions in all children as well as acute cortisol in mainstream school children. Dog interventions lead to significantly lower stress in children with and without special educational needs compared to their peers in relaxation or no treatment control groups. In neurotypical children, those in the dog interventions showed no baseline stress level increases over the school term. In addition, acute cortisol levels evidenced significant stress reduction following the interventions. In contrast, the no treatment control group showed significant rises in baseline cortisol levels from beginning to end of school term. Increases also occurred in the relaxation intervention group. Children with SEN showed significantly decreased cortisol levels after dog group interventions. No changes occurred in the relaxation or no treatment control groups. These findings provide crucial evidence that dog interventions can successfully attenuate stress levels in school children with important implications for AAI implementation, learning and wellbeing.
长期或过度的压力会对整个生命周期中的学习、行为和健康产生负面影响。为了减轻学龄儿童的压力的不利影响，应该减少压力源，并提供支持和有效的干预措施。动物辅助干预（AAI）已显示出对健康和幸福的有益影响，然而，儿童压力调节的知识还很缺乏。尽管如此，AAI 在世界范围内的学校等场所越来越多地被采用，以减轻压力，支持学习和幸福感。这项研究是第一项随机对照试验，旨在调查在有和没有特殊教育需求（SEN）的学龄儿童中，作为压力中介的犬辅助干预措施在整个学期内的效果。干预措施每周进行两次，每次 20 分钟，持续 4 周，分为个人和小组两种形式。我们比较了犬干预组与放松干预组和无治疗对照组在 4 周干预前后唾液皮质醇的生理变化。我们比较了所有儿童在 4 周干预前后的皮质醇水平均值，以及主流学校儿童的急性皮质醇水平。与放松或无治疗对照组的同龄人相比，犬干预组的儿童和有特殊教育需求的儿童的压力显著降低。在神经典型儿童中，那些接受犬干预的儿童在整个学期内没有出现基线压力水平升高的情况。此外，急性皮质醇水平在干预后显示出显著的压力降低。相比之下，无治疗对照组在整个学期内从开始到结束都显示出皮质醇基线水平的显著升高。放松干预组也出现了升高。接受犬组干预的 SEN 儿童的皮质醇水平显著降低。放松或无治疗对照组没有变化。这些发现提供了重要证据，证明犬干预可以成功减轻学龄儿童的压力水平，对 AAI 的实施、学习和幸福感具有重要意义。
