Poster 1

Hospitalization is a major stressful experience for children. The stress associated with hospitalization of children may lead to physiological and psychological sequela resulting from adverse stress. Pediatric healthcare professionals can develop interventions to decrease children's stress during hospitalization. Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) frequently is used to alleviate the stress of hospitalization, little scientific evidence evaluates the use of AAT in hospitalized children. This study examines the effects of AAT on cardiovascular responses and state anxiety in hospitalized children. A quasi-experimental repeated measures study was conducted in pediatric settings. Children (8 girls, 7 boys, aged 7 to 17 years) participated in AAT and person visits (PV) on two consecutive days; they were assigned to AAT (n=9) or person (n=6) visits first. Children's systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures and heart rates (HR) were measured 9 times, 3 pre-, during, and post-each visit. State anxiety was collected post-visits. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used for data analysis. SBP responses depended on visit order. In the PV first group, SBP decreased from pre- to post-AAT (p < .05), and did not change from pre- to post-PV. SBP did not change in the AAT first group. Changes in DBP were not parallel for AAT and PVs. DBP did not change from pre- to post-AAT and increased from pre- to post-PVs (p < .05). Visit type didn't affect HR. This study indicates that AAT can decrease physiological arousal for hospitalized children compared with other in hospital play activities and suggest that AAT may be useful in health care settings to play a part in decreasing hospitalized children's physiological stress.