The benefits of an animal-assisted intervention service to patients and staff at a children's hospital

An animal-assisted intervention (AAI) Service was established at a UK children's university teaching hospital in 2012. This article reports the results of recent surveys of parents and staff conducted over a 12-month period.

Formal AAI has been established in the USA and Europe over the past 50 years and, more recently, the UK. There is published data noting the therapeutic benefits to children of animals in health care (Goddard and Gilmer, 2015). Interaction with animals promotes relaxation and has been shown to reduce anxiety. The presence of a friendly dog was shown to be effective at reducing the blood pressure (BP) and heart rates of children aged 2 to 6 years of age undergoing simulations of routine examinations (Nagengast et al, 1997; Wu et al, 2002). Hospitalised children exhibited greater lowering of diastolic BP after interacting with a dog sitting beside them on their bed or chair than after a comparison activity of doing puzzles (Tsai et al, 2010).