Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Trust Towards Therapists and Dogs: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Healthy Adults
Overview
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Intervention
- Animal-Assisted Intervention
- Conditions
- Depressive Symptoms
- Sponsor
- Dr. Karin Hediger
- Enrollment
- 176
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Trust in the therapist
- Status
- Recruiting
- Last Updated
- last year
Overview
Brief Summary
Oxytocin has been proposed as a neuroendocrine mechanism that may mediate the relationship between dog ownership and positive health outcomes and be linked to human-dog interactions and is thought to be a mechanism of interspecies bonding. While the role of oxytocin in human bonding behaviours and social behaviour, in general, is becoming well-established the role of oxytocin in human-animal interaction and Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) remains unclear. This research gap calls for more high-quality research investigating this possible neuroendocrine underlying mechanism to advance knowledge about AAI. If oxytocin indeed might be involved in interspecies bonding, intranasally administered oxytocin should not only enhance trust toward a human but also towards a dog.
Investigators
Dr. Karin Hediger
Prof. Dr. Karin Hediger
University of Basel
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Age ≥ 18 years
- •Signed informed consent
Exclusion Criteria
- •Pregnancy
- •Being scared of dogs or dog hair allergy by self-report
- •Any acute or chronic disease (e.g., chronic pain, hypertension, heart disease, renal disease, liver disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, skin pathologies etc.)
- •Current medications (psychoactive medication, narcotics, intake of analgesics) or being currently in psychological or psychiatric treatment
- •Drug consumption (THC, cocaine, heroin, etc.) within the past 24h before study appointment
- •Ongoing psychotherapy treatment
- •Sexual Intercourse within the past 24h before study appointment
- •Current disease involving respiratory system (e.g., influence, asthma etc.)
- •Insufficient German language skills to understand the instructions
Arms & Interventions
Condition 1: Oxytocin + dog present
Intervention: Animal-Assisted Intervention
Condition 1: Oxytocin + dog present
Intervention: Oxytocin nasal spray
Condition 2: Oxytocin + no dog present
Intervention: Oxytocin nasal spray
Condition 3: Placebo + dog present
Intervention: Animal-Assisted Intervention
Condition 3: Placebo + dog present
Intervention: Placebo
Condition 4: Placebo + no dog present
Intervention: Placebo
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Trust in the therapist
Time Frame: immediately after the intervention
The main outcome is trust in the therapist, measured by the Trust and Respect Scale. The current questionnaire contains 8 items, four for trust and four for respect. Each item is measured on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree"), of which 4 are formulated negatively. High values indicate high trust toward the therapist for the positively framed items, and for the negatively framed items low values mean high trust toward the therapist.
Secondary Outcomes
- therapeutic climate(immediately after the intervention)
- Trust in the dog(immediately after the intervention)
- therapeutic alliance(immediately after the intervention)
- psychological flexibility(immediately after the intervention)
- perceived emotional closeness to the dog(immediately after the intervention)
- perceived stress(immediately after the intervention)
- level of difficulty(immediately after the intervention)