What is it about?

The study looked into the possible benefits of having a therapy dog around, and how this might effect stress and anxiety for university students. It studied the possible psychological and physical benefits from animal-assisted activities.

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Why is it important?

University can be a stressful period of time for many students. A lot of recent research shows a rise in psychological problems, attrition, and suicide rates of university students faced with the stressful challenges of university life. Using programs such as animal-assisted activities (e.g. therapy dogs) can provide students a buffer and possibly improve psychological and physical well-being

Perspectives

Conducting this research was not only very interesting and educational, but also very rewarding and fun. (The dogs were great! :D) I am very appreciative to my co-author and supervisor for all her support and guidance, both of which have been invaluable. I hope that with more research like my own, the field of animal-assisted interventions will be more understood, better appreciated and utilised.

Jolene Muckle
Adler University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: An exploration of the benefits of animal-assisted activities in undergraduate students in Singapore, Asian Journal Of Social Psychology, April 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/ajsp.12166.
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