Children report positive experiences of animal-assisted therapy in paediatric hospital care

Aim: To evaluate children's experiences of and responses to animal-assisted therapy using a therapy dog as complementary treatment in paediatric hospital care.

Methods: The study was performed using mixed methods, by means of qualitative and quantitative data. Fifty children in a paediatric surgery ward, at a tertiary hospital in Sweden, were included between February 2016 to May 2017. Children answered questions about feelings of well-being and experiences of the hospital stay before and after animal-assisted therapy, and experiences of their interaction with a therapy dog.

Results: The children's well-being increased from moderately good before to very good after animal-assisted therapy, and the children assessed the hospital stay as better after than before. The vast majority of the children (93%) assessed the interaction with the dog as very good. The children described mixed experiences before and mainly positive aspects of joy, satisfaction and pain relief after animal-assisted therapy.

Conclusion: The children's responses before interaction, of both a positive and negative nature, show a focus shift after the interaction with a therapy dog to mainly positive nature regarding self-reported feeling of well-being and experiences of the hospital stay. Using a therapy dog in paediatric hospital care is suitable complementary treatment.