Animal-assisted activity promotes health workers' well-being

Health care workers continue to experience persistent stress, anxiety, and burnout, despite recent declines from pandemic-era peaks. Animal-assisted activity (AAA) has shown promise in improving psychological well-being, but research specific to health care workers remains limited.

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

As part of a quality improvement project, staff voluntarily completed a two-question survey immediately before and after holding and petting a baby kangaroo. Anxiety was measured using a validated one-item, 5-point Likert-type scale. Role-based demographic data were collected, and paired t tests were used to analyze pre- and postintervention differences.

A total of 324 staff completed the presurvey and 251 completed the postsurvey. All three role groups-RN/LPN, clinical non-RN/LPN, and nonclinical staff-showed statistically significant reductions in anxiety (all P < .0001). The overall mean anxiety decrease across 251 paired responses was 0.906 (SD = 0.64).

A brief, informal AAA encounter involving a baby kangaroo significantly reduced self-reported anxiety among health care workers. Findings support the integration of AAA as a meaningful well-being intervention and highlight the opportunity for nurse leaders to champion similar programs that promote staff emotional health and engagement.