Psychosocial Effects Of A Therapy Dog In An Athletic Training Clinic

Canine assisted therapy may convey a host of psychosocial benefits to patients, but there are no reports of their formal use in athletic training clinics. PURPOSE: To examine if a therapy dog in an athletic training clinic impacts the psychosocial environment and provides patient benefits. METHODS: An exploratory research design was implemented. Questionnaires were created and administered to athletes at a single NCAA Division I university that routinely had a therapy dog interacting with athletes in the clinic. Following Institutional Review Board approval, an electronic online recruitment statement with informed consent was sent to the athletic training staff at the university to be distributed to all athletes (N = 452) treated for an injury in the past 12 months. Ninety-five athletes responded (64 female, 31 male, mean age 20.0 yrs), of which 75 had spent at least 4 days/week in the clinic during their rehabilitation. All subjects completed a demographic and injury questionnaire and three Likert scale Dog Treatment Questionnaires (DTQ 1, DTQ 2, DTQ 3). DTQ 1 and DTQ 2 were for athletes who had received treatments while in the athletic training clinic with the dog, and DTQ 3 was for athletes who had received treatments with no dog present. The questionnaires had subscales focusing on confidence, anxiety, adherence, and overall treatment effectiveness. Responses ranged from “Much Better” to “Much Worse”. Much Better and Better responses were pooled and compared to the pooled Neutral, Worse, and Much Worse responses using chi-squared analyses to examine when the dog was helpful or favored versus when the dog was not helpful or not favored. RESULTS: Responses to 15 of 16 questions on the DTQ 1, 12 of 15 questions on DTQ 2, and 7 of 13 questions on the DTQ 3 significantly (p ≤ 0.05) favored treatments with the dog present. Athletes reported decreased anxiety, increased confidence, and believed they had better adherence and treatment outcomes with the dog present. Test psychometrics were acceptable as indicated by a high reliability coefficient (r = 0.823) between DTQ 1 and DTQ 2, and Chronbach’s alpha that showed a strong internal consistency among test subscales (α ranging from .817 to .907). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the presence of the dog enhanced the psychosocial environment of an athletic training clinic and improved athlete mindset.