Reducing university students' stress through a drop-in canine-therapy program

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Animal-assisted interventions

Background:

• Colleges increasingly offer canine therapy for student de-stressing and mental well-being.
• Research on the benefits of university canine therapy programs is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• Assess stress reduction from a weekly canine therapy program.
• Determine optimal session duration for stress reduction.

Main Methods:

• 1960 university students participated.
• Visual Analog Scale (VAS) measured stress levels pre- and post-intervention.
• Session duration was documented.

Main Results:

• Student self-reported stress levels significantly decreased post-canine therapy.
• Average session duration was 35 minutes.

Conclusions:

• Drop-in canine therapy effectively reduces university student stress.
• Findings inform counseling and animal therapy practices on intervention dosage.