A new study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science has revealed that therapy dogs can be a huge boon to nursing students. Nursing school is full of highly demanding examinations and requires countless hours of intense studying, potentially leading to severe stress and burnout. But according to Saint Louis University researcher and professor Margaret Bultas, Ph.D., RN, CNE, CNL, CPNP-PC, who authored the study, canines may be a great way to combat the nationwide nursing shortage.
“[Because of the nursing shortage], I think we must figure out how to save the nurses we have in the field and get more nurses into the field,” Butlas told Nurse Journal. “And as an educator, I saw how stress and anxiety were becoming barriers to [the nursing student’s] education.”
For eight weeks, Butlas and her colleagues introduced Jessie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, into the classroom of an undergraduate nursing program to better understand the effects of therapy dogs on students. Students were surveyed before and after the classes to determine their total levels of stress, anxiety and happiness.
“We found that having a therapy dog in the classroom was feasible, and the students loved it,” Bultas said.
Statistically, students in the therapy dog group reported having a greater sense of comfort and lower stress and anxiety levels. The effectiveness of therapy dogs in the classroom came down to their heightened sensitivity to human needs.
“The modern relationship between humans and dogs is undoubtedly unique,” the study reported. “With a shared evolutionary history spanning tens of thousands of years, dogs have filled a unique niche in our lives as man’s best friend. Through the processes of domestication and natural selection, dogs have become adept at socializing with humans.
“For example, research suggests dogs are sensitive to our emotional states as well as our social gestures, and they also can communicate with us using complex cues such as gaze alternation. In addition, dogs can form complex attachment relationships with humans that mirror that of infant-caregiver relationships.”
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