Animal-assisted activity promotes health workers' well-being.

Area of Science:

• Animal-assisted activities
• Healthcare worker well-being
• Stress reduction interventions

Background:

• Healthcare workers face ongoing stress and burnout.
• Animal-assisted activity (AAA) shows potential for improving psychological well-being.
• Limited research exists on AAA specifically for healthcare professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a baby kangaroo AAA intervention on staff anxiety.
• To evaluate anxiety levels during Nurses Week and National Hospital Week.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project involved voluntary staff participation.
• A two-question survey measured anxiety using a 5-point Likert scale before and after holding a baby kangaroo.
• Paired t tests analyzed pre- and post-intervention anxiety scores.

Main Results:

• 324 staff completed the initial survey, and 251 completed the follow-up.
• All staff groups (RN/LPN, clinical non-RN/LPN, nonclinical) reported significant anxiety reductions (P < .0001).
• The average anxiety decrease was 0.906 (SD = 0.64) across paired responses.

Conclusions:

• Brief encounters with baby kangaroos via AAA effectively lowered self-reported anxiety in healthcare workers.
• AAA can be integrated as a valuable intervention for staff well-being.
• Nurse leaders can promote AAA programs to enhance emotional health and engagement.