College Student Mental Health in an Animal-Assisted Intervention Program: A Preliminary Study

Author(s)

Ariann Evans Robino, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Virginia Kiefer Corrigan, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary MedicineFollow
Bridget Anderson, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Stephen R. Werre, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary MedicineFollow
Julee P. Farley, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Susan West Marmagas, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Virginia Buechener-Maxwell, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary MedicineFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal for Creativity in Mental Health

ISSN

1540-1391

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

There is a growing trend of animal-assisted intervention (AAI) programs on college campuses to improve mental health among college students through human–animal interactions. The purpose of this preliminary research was to evaluate one program to determine if AAI improved participants’ short-term emotional state as well as influenced the quality of the human–animal interaction. Quantitative data were collected using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and the Human–Animal Interaction Scale. Results indicated a positive change in students’ emotional state after interactions with therapy animals. Time spent interacting with the therapy animals had a significant effect on the human–animal interaction score but no effect on affect. These findings support the utility of human–animal relationships in improving college student mental health.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2020.1757002

Volume

16

Issue

1

NSUWorks Citation

Robino, A. E., Corrigan, V. K., Anderson, B., Werre, S. R., Farley, J. P., Marmagas, S. W., Buechener-Maxwell, V. (2021). College Student Mental Health in an Animal-Assisted Intervention Program: A Preliminary Study. Journal for Creativity in Mental Health, 16(1).
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1730