Trial reportPloS one2022
Can dogs reduce stress levels in school children? effects of dog-assisted interventions on salivary cortisol in children with and without special educational needs using randomized controlled trials.
Trial report in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dog-assisted interventions for children and adults with mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions: systematic review.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of animal-assisted services for school-aged children: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Byron's bear and dwarf rabbits in the classroom: a review of animals against academic stress.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Pooled it
- Dog-assisted therapy on Hong Kong children with autism spectrum disorder: an exploratory randomized controlled trial.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Trial
- The neural and physiological mechanisms of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI): A systematic review and integrated framework.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Review
- Guidance for protocol content and reporting of dog-assisted interventions in randomised controlled trials: explanation and elaboration of the SPIRIT 2025 and CONSORT 2025 extensions.BMC medical research methodology · 2026Article
- Effects of static and dynamic canine-assisted intervention in young adults: sex differences in hormonal, EEG, HRV, and emotional responses.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Pawsitive Impact: Measuring the Dog Mentor's Effect in Neurodivergent Students.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Brief therapy dog interactions may increase self-efficacy and lower perceived stress and cortisol in high school students: a preliminary study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Attitudes Toward In-Training Assistance Dogs in University Classrooms.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Effects of canine-assisted intervention on stress and depression in humans.Journal of animal science and technology · 2025Review
- The Effects of Human-Horse Interactions on Oxytocin and Cortisol Levels in Humans and Horses.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Supporting Families to 'Make the Most' of the Relationship Between Their Companion Dogs and Their Children with Autism Spectrum Condition: A Qualitative Exploration of the 'Family Dog Service'.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Behavioral, Physiological, and Pathological Approaches of Cortisol in Dogs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Review
- Companion animals and child development outcomes: longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of a UK birth cohort study.BMC pediatrics · 2024Article
- Acute salivary cortisol response in children with ADHD during psychosocial intervention with and without therapy dogs.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- The Impact of a School Dog on Children's Social Inclusion and Social Climate in a School Class.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2023Article
- Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Group Changes in Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability of Children with Down Syndrome and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Dog-Assisted Therapy.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Can dog-assisted and relaxation interventions boost spatial ability in children with and without special educational needs? A longitudinal, randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Prolonged or excessive stress negatively affects learning, behavior and health across the lifespan. To alleviate adverse effects of stress in school children, stressors should be reduced, and support and effective interventions provided. Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have shown beneficial effects on health and wellbeing, however, robust knowledge on stress mediation in children is lacking. Despite this, AAIs are increasingly employed in settings world-wide, including schools, to reduce stress and support learning and wellbeing. This study is the first randomized controlled trial to investigate dog-assisted interventions as a mediator of stress in school children with and without special educational needs (SEN) over the school term. Interventions were carried out individually and in small groups twice a week for 20 minutes over the course of 4 weeks. We compared physiological changes in salivary cortisol in a dog intervention group with a relaxation intervention group and a no treatment control group. We compared cortisol level means before and after the 4 weeks of interventions in all children as well as acute cortisol in mainstream school children. Dog interventions lead to significantly lower stress in children with and without special educational needs compared to their peers in relaxation or no treatment control groups. In neurotypical children, those in the dog interventions showed no baseline stress level increases over the school term. In addition, acute cortisol levels evidenced significant stress reduction following the interventions. In contrast, the no treatment control group showed significant rises in baseline cortisol levels from beginning to end of school term. Increases also occurred in the relaxation intervention group. Children with SEN showed significantly decreased cortisol levels after dog group interventions. No changes occurred in the relaxation or no treatment control groups. These findings provide crucial evidence that dog interventions can successfully attenuate stress levels in school children with important implications for AAI implementation, learning and wellbeing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.