Therapy Dogs May Reduce ER Patients' Pain and Anxiety

March 28, 2022, Daily News | Intermediate

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

therapy/ ˈθɛrəpiː/ Noun

a form of treatment for someone with emotional problems or a mental
illness

Example:
I found therapy to be incredibly helpful after my divorce.

depression/ dɪˈprɛʃən/ Noun

a mental health condition in which people often feel very sad, have
trouble eating and sleeping, lack energy, etc.

Example:
The doctor is trying to help her overcome her depression.

anxiety/ æŋˈzaɪəti/ Noun

a mental health condition which causes people to feel extremely
nervous or worried; a state of feeling nervous or worried

Example:
Stress can cause mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

handler/ ˈhændlər/ Noun

a person who trains or controls an animal

Example:
He worked as a dog handler with the police for several years.

distract/ dɪˈstrækt/ Verb

to stop someone from thinking about, looking at, or listening to
something

Example:
She should be listening to her teacher, but her friend is distracting her.
Exercise 2

Article

Therapy Dogs May Reduce ER Patients' Pain and Anxiety

Just 10 minutes with a therapy dog can help reduce pain, anxiety and
depression in emergency room (ER) patients, according to a study
published in PLoS One.
For about three months in 2019, St. John Ambulance therapy dogs and
handlers took part in 10-minute visits to 97 adult patients at the Royal
University Hospital emergency department in Saskatoon, Canada.

Each visit included the handlers telling the patient about the dog, and
asking them about their own pets. But for most of the visit, they just
listened while the patients spoke.

The patients were asked to rate their pain, anxiety and depression out of
10 just before the therapy dog visit, immediately after, and then about
20 minutes later.
Researchers compared the group's pain, anxiety and depression scores
with those of 101 adult patients who didn't spend time with a therapy
dog.
The researchers found that nearly half (48%) of patients who met with a
therapy dog reported less anxiety, while 43% reported less pain and 46%
less depression.
Researcher Colleen Dell told CTV News that coming into the ER is maybe
the worst day of your life — or one of them. "We know anxiety is high,"
she said.
Therapy dogs may distract patients from their pain, the study
noted. Other research has also found that petting an animal may
decrease stress hormones like Cortisol or increase feel -good hormones
like Oxytocin, the researchers said.
However, time chatting with the dog handler who was in the ER with the
dog may also have affected the study results. The researchers said this is
something future studies will have to look into further.
Exercise 3

Discussion
1. What are your thoughts on the findings of this study?

2. Do you find it surprising that just 10 minutes with a therapy dog may
have benefits for ER patients?

3. Are therapy dogs commonly seen in your country?

4. Do you think you'd enjoy working as a dog handler?

5. Do you know anyone who works in an emergency room? Do they

enjoy their job?
Exercise 4
Further Discussion

1. Do you have any pets? If so, how much time do you spend with them
each day?

2. If you were to get a new pet tomorrow, what would you choose?
Why?

3. Are most of your family and friends dog or cat people?

4. Are there any common pets you'd be reluctant to own?

5. Pets understand humans better than humans do. — Ruchi Prabhu.

What do you make of this statement?

Source
This lesson is based on an article by Karen Turtle.