ABSTRACT Approximately 17,000 new cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) are reported annually in the United States. Rehabilitation from SCI involves substantial mental, emotional, and physical challenges. Using a randomized controlled trial design, we assessed the efficacy of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) as an aid in rehabilitation following a SCI. We hypothesized that patients with SCI undergoing rehabilitation occupational therapy with AAT would demonstrate greater positive shifts in mood and outlook, reduced pain, and reduced stress compared with patients exposed to the same rehabilitation therapy but without AAT. Over four sessions of occupational therapy, 31 patients completed standard rehabilitation activities (control group) or rehabilitation activities integrating an animal therapy team (treatment group). Patients completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) at each session, had salivary cortisol sampled at the second session, and completed the Brief Pain Inventory at study baseline and exit. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVAs and t-tests. The results revealed a small but significant effect of animal-assisted therapy on self-reported negative affect. Findings for group differences on positive affect, stress, and pain unpleasantness were null, although non-significant findings were in the hypothesized direction for several variables and yielded small effect sizes. Continued research is needed on the influence of AAT on mood improvement, stress reduction, and ultimately improved physical health outcomes during rehabilitation after SCI.

中文翻译：

---

狗作为治疗的辅助：动物辅助治疗对脊髓损伤后康复的影响

摘要美国每年报告大约 17,000 例新的脊髓损伤 (SCI) 病例。SCI 的康复涉及大量的精神、情感和身体挑战。使用随机对照试验设计，我们评估了动物辅助疗法 (AAT) 作为 SCI 后康复辅助手段的功效。我们假设，与接受相同康复治疗但没有 AAT 的患者相比，接受 AAT 康复职业治疗的 SCI 患者会表现出更大的情绪和前景转变、减轻疼痛和减轻压力。经过四次职业治疗，31名患者完成了标准康复活动（对照组）或整合动物治疗团队的康复活动（治疗组）。患者在每个阶段完成正面和负面影响表 (PANAS) 和数字评定量表 (NRS)，在第二个阶段采集唾液皮质醇样本，并在研究基线和退出时完成简要疼痛量表。使用重复测量方差分析和 t 检验分析数据。结果表明，动物辅助治疗对自我报告的负面影响有很小但很重要的影响。关于积极影响、压力和疼痛不愉快的组差异的发现是无效的，尽管非显着发现在几个变量的假设方向上并且产生小的影响大小。需要继续研究 AAT 对 SCI 后康复期间情绪改善、压力减轻和最终改善身体健康结果的影响。