New Research to Use Brain Imaging to Measure Human-Dog Interaction

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and Pet Partners announced today a grant to the University of Toledo for a new study, Implementation of Canine-Assisted Forensic Interviews with Children. This lab-based study will examine the effect of the presence of a therapy dog on the quantity and quality of children’s event reports. “From countless anecdotal evidence, we know that a visit from a registered Pet Partners therapy dog can put a smile on a child’s face, no matter what they are going through,” said Annie Peters, President and CEO of Pet Partners. “Scientific research to validate the efficacy of therapy dogs in forensic interviewing has the potential to not only provide more children with much needed comfort and emotional support, but to also promote justice for such a vulnerable population.” “The overarching goal of the study is to provide evidence-based guidelines regarding how and when to incorporate therapy dogs in legal settings,” said the study’s principal investigator, Kamala London, PhD, University of Toledo. “We expect that this study will help support therapy dog-assisted forensic interviews as a safe, affordable, and widely available technique that may improve the accuracy and quality of event reports among maltreated children.” Only about 15% of all child maltreatment cases come to the attention of authorities. Among cases that do come forward, children may be reluctant to disclose traumatic experiences, particularly when those experiences involve family member perpetrators. Over the past decade, forensic and legal professionals have begun to incorporate dogs into their practices in an effort to build rapport and trust, and foster a warm, supportive environment for children. Despite the increase in practice, the effects of therapy dog-assisted forensic interviews have not been studied. This study will work to address this identified gap in human-animal interaction (HAI) research. 120 children age 6-9 will experience a...

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) today announced a new grant for research to examine the effects of therapy dog interactions on heart and brain activity. This grant was awarded to a team of researchers at the University of Wollongong, led by Jillian Teo, PhD Candidate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wollongong along with Professor Stuart Johnstone at the School of Psychology and Professor Susan Thomas at the Graduate School of Medicine. This study will investigate the changes in heart and brain activity occurring in university students during interactions with therapy dogs and aims to better understand the mechanisms behind the benefits of human-dog interactions on human health and wellbeing. In addition to measurements of heart and brain activity, researchers will also collect self-report measures of emotional states and psychological distress from students. The study hypothesizes that therapy dog interactions will lead to greater relaxation compared to standard relaxation methods which could potentially inform future interventions and policies to optimize student health. “Our preliminary study indicates that therapy dogs can favorably influence multiple human health-related pathways, including the autonomic and central nervous systems, likely through reductions in stress and increases in relaxation,” said Jillian Teo, the Principal Investigator for this project. “This new study will yield insights into the mechanisms underlying these benefits for human health and facilitate the development of evidence-based practices to optimize future animal-assisted interventions for improved health and wellbeing.” This study will adopt a repeated measures design to examine psychophysiological outcomes from 100 university students, combining subjective self-report measures with objective physiological measurements including heart rate, heart rate variability, and an electroencephalogram (EEG). The study will further add to the existing literature...

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) announced today the award of a new research grant to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to examine the relationship between sexual and gender minority (SGM) stressors in young adulthood and human-animal interaction (HAI), investigating how pets may serve as a protective factor for this marginalized population during the transition to adulthood. The lead investigators of the grant are Drs. Rosalie Corona and Shelby McDonald, both in the Department of Psychology. SGM emerging adults (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority identities or “LGBTQ+” ́) are a diverse group of young people facing stigma, victimization, and discrimination at levels that impact their wellbeing. This research project involves a three-wave panel study of 300 SGM emerging adults. Over a 6-month period, researchers aim to identify unique relations between SGM stressors and HAI, exploring how pets are associated with increases in personal hardiness, and whether comfort derived from them buffers the negative impact of victimization on self-esteem. This study will allow researchers to assess these effects over time and identify causal mechanisms that explain the relationship between pets and improved health outcomes, providing further evidence for the role of pets as a social determinant of health. “This study is the first to longitudinally test whether relationships with pets help this underserved population cope with stress,” said Dr. Shelby McDonald, Co-Principal Investigator. “I’m thrilled to be working with Co-PI Dr. Rosalie Corona, on this project, who brings expertise in reducing risk, health disparities, and improving health behaviors. We expect to find that measures of the human-animal bond, such as attachment to pets and comfort derived from pets, will be positively associated with self-esteem and personal hardiness, and negatively associated with stress and substance use.” Dr....