Facility dog intervention and young children's anxiety during outpatient echocardiography.

Background and objectives: With more than 1 million children in the United States living with a heart defect or condition, it is important to identify interventions that may minimise the long-term impacts of repeated medical surveillance and care. Thus, the purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine relationships between facility dog intervention and young children's anxiety during outpatient echocardiogram.

Methods: Participants were seventy children aged 18 months to 8 years undergoing echocardiogram in a paediatric cardiology clinic. Child anxiety was scored by a trained nurse observer pre- and post-procedure using the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale. Facility dog intervention included individualised play, positioning, therapeutic conversation and touch, and emotional support throughout to promote coping and compliance. Parents and staff completed a post-procedural perceptions survey about their experiences.

Results: Paired samples t-tests demonstrated child anxiety levels were significantly lower post-procedure compared to pre-procedure (Z = -3.974, p < .001). This direction held for nearly all participants; however, those with prior echocardiogram history demonstrated significantly higher anxiety levels at the pre-procedural timepoint (z = -2.442, p = .015). Caregivers (97.2%) and staff (87.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that facility dog intervention was helpful in this context.

Conclusions: Facility dog intervention was associated with a significant reduction in young children's anxiety across procedural timepoints in outpatient echocardiography. The intervention was perceived as helpful by families and staff; no workflow changes or barriers were noted. Thus, facility dog intervention may be a well-received and promising care innovation for this vulnerable chronic population.