@article{ref1,
title="Effect of dog presence on stress levels in students under psychological strain: a pilot study",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2020",
author="Machová, Kristýna and Procházková, Radka and Vadroňová, Mariana and Součková, Michaela and Prouzová, Eliška",
volume="17",
number="7",
pages="e2286-e2286",
abstract="As university students face many stressful situations, especially during the examination period, this study focused on the use of animal-assisted activities (AAAs) with a dog as a means of relieving students' stress before a final exam. The aim was to determine whether a 10-min interaction with a dog affected subjectively evaluated stress and mood, objective blood pressure, and heart rate. Ninety-three female students (mean age = 22.5 years; standard deviation = 3.8 years) were divided into three groups according to their preference. The first group underwent AAAs (n = 26), the second group chose a relaxation technique (n = 28), and the last one was a control group (n = 39). Physiological values were measured using a pressure gauge and the subjective feelings of stress and mood were evaluated by the Likert scale 1-5. The AAA group showed significant improvement after 10 min of interaction in both mood and stress, with no change in heart rate and blood pressure. The remaining groups showed a significant decrease in blood pressure, but not in heart rate, with different evaluations of mood and stress. AAAs with a dog appear to be effective in improving students' mood and stress without affecting their physiological parameters.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph17072286",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072286"
}