Do therapy dogs benefit people across all genders?

Therapy dog research in the past has focused largely on women, but a locally based acamedic has delved much deeper into multi-gender impacts regarding the likes of homesickness, stress, and loneliness..

While there are a number of studies demonstrating that dog therapy programs can improve a person’s social and emotional wellbeing, as Dr. John-Tyler Binfet found, many typically have a disproportionate number of female participants.

Recent research led by the Dr. Binfet, Associate Professor in UBC Okanagan’s School of Education and Director of Building Academic Retention through K9s (BARK), evaluated if there are gender differences in wellbeing by setting up separate dog therapy sessions for those who identified as female, male and gender diverse participants.

“We looked at all the literature published, and it skews heavily to women. There's upwards of 70, 80% of studies published have high rates of women participants,” Dr. Binfet told Kelowna10. “And we wanted just to explore why was that or does it work equally well for all genders.”

Dr. Binfet has conducted numerous studies on the benefits of canine therapy, but to his knowledge, this is the first gender-specific study about canine therapy.

“Previous research has explored if it works and how it works, but not who it works for,” Dr. Binfet said. “This was one of the first studies that examined whether canine-assisted interventions work equally well for varied genders.”

For the study, students self-selected their gender cohort and were assigned to a session on a first-come first-serve basis.

Prior to the sessions, they provided reports of wellbeing; specifically measuring their self-perceptions of campus and social connectedness, happiness, optimism, stress, homesickness, and loneliness.

A total of 163 students—49 per cent women, 33 per cent men, and 17 per cent non-binary and other genders—participated in 20-minute sessions.

In groups of three to four, the students engaged with a therapy dog and handler, and following the session they filled out a survey. The results showed, as expected, that there was a significant increase in wellbeing and a decrease in homesickness, stress, and loneliness.

“I know for sure that many people who stress about midterms, they come here and they just kind of get to hang out with man’s best friend,” UBCO student Isaac Eva said. “I think it's a great way to remind me of my dog back at home, who obviously I miss. I think all the students really miss many of their pets at home.”

The results also demonstrated that canines have a comparable positive wellness effect across diverse gender identities.

“In light of previous studies that note participants were predominantly women, our sampling of men, genderfluid and two-spirit participants furthers our understanding that the efficacy of these interventions does not appear to be gender dependent,” Dr. Binfet said. “The vast majority of responses showed that the dogs helped the students feel and experience something positive regardless of their gender.”

The findings could influence post-secondary mental health and wellness programs as educators continue to seek low-cost and low-barrier inclusive options for students.