Dog companionship and cortisol levels in youth. A systematic review and meta-analysis

Archivos
Peña(2025)Dog companionship and cortisol levels in youth. A systematic review and meta-analysis.pdf (3.36 MB)
Fecha
2025
Nota de Acceso
Fecha de embargo
Autores
Profe guía
Perfil ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3620-9861
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Elsevier
ISBN
ISSN
0277-9536
ISSNe
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117815
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12254/7382
Resumen
Objective: Traditional and non-traditional strategies have been employed to improve youth health. Dog-assisted interventions have been proposed as a novel strategy to regulate stress and its consequences across all age groups. This systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis assessed the influence of dog-assisted interventions on cortisol levels in youth and explored potential moderators. Sources: We conducted a comprehensive systematic search across multiple databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect, up to June 17, 2024, to evaluate the impact of dog-assisted interventions on youth cortisol levels. Two reviewers independently extracted and verified data from eligible randomized clinical trials, with a third reviewer ensuring accuracy. Cochrane's RoB 2.0 tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Heterogeneity was analyzed using Q and I2 statistics. A random-effects model was employed to calculate effect sizes (ES) using R software. Summary of the findings: Significant cortisol reductions were found for interventions lasting >15 min (ES: 0.65; p = .038), with a non-significant trend towards reduced cortisol in non-medical settings (ES: 0.46; p = .070). No significant effects were observed for shorter interventions, different control groups, or age-specific analyses. Meta-regression analysis revealed significant differences, showing better outcomes with longer intervention times and fewer female participants. Conclusion: Dog-assisted interventions lasting >15 min seem to be a promising and non-traditional strategy for regulating cortisol levels in children and adolescents in stressful situations. This study outlines gaps in the research and future directions.
Descripción
Lugar de Publicación
Canada
Sponsorship
J.S.-M is supported by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)/Scholarship Program/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2022–(Grant Nº72220164).
Citación
Social science & medicine, Vo. 369 (2025) p. 1-10.
Palabras clave
Animal-assisted therapy, Health, Stress, Childhood, Service dog
Licencia
Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 Chile (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 CL)
Licencia URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/cl/
Colecciones
Artículos de Revistas