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Doggone Diabetes: Implementing a Physical Activity Intervention with Therapy Dogs

Caralise W. Hunt, Morgan Yordy, W. Stuart Pope

Purpose: The American Diabetes Association recommends that adults with diabetes participate in at least 150 minutes of exercise weekly, yet most do not achieve this goal. Researchers at a college of nursing explored opportunities to enhance walking in those living with diabetes by integrating therapy dogs into a walking program. Specific objectives included (1) implement a walking program that includes adults living with diabetes or prediabetes walking with therapy dogs and (2) increase and sustain walking activity in study participants to 150 minutes per week.

Methods: This correlational study involved collection of baseline data followed by supervised dog-walking in the community with participants over three months with final measurements obtained at study conclusion. The primary outcome, minutes of walking per week, was tracked by researchers at each walking session and secondary outcomes of weight, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and heart rate were measured at baseline, once per month, and study conclusion. Haemoglobin A1C was measured at baseline and study conclusion.

Results: This pilot program met considerable opposition in recruitment and implementation due to the pandemic. Walking time increased for participants, and they qualitatively reported they had walked more since joining the study both with therapy dogs and on their own.

Conclusion: Although this pilot program did not yield results as anticipated due to low participant numbers, insight was gained into future studies linking community outreach among people living with chronic conditions and therapy dog programs from those who actively participated.