Effects of Essential Animal Visitation Program (AVP) Components on Students’ Salivary α-Amylase and Amylase-to-Cortisol Ratios
2022
Vandagriff, Jaymie L. | Carr, Alexa M. | Roeter Smith, Stephanie M. | Pendry, Patricia
While efficacy trials suggest that Animal Visitation Programs (AVPs) relieve university student stress, their essential components are unknown. Students were randomly assigned to one of four 10-min conditions: AVP touch (n = 73), AVP proximity (n = 62), AVP imagery (n = 57), or AVP waitlist (n = 57). Participants collected salivary cortisol (Cort) and α-amylase (sAA) upon waking and at 15 and 25 min post-condition from which parameters indicating adaptive physiological functioning were calculated. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that students in all three comparison conditions had lower posttest sAA (β ₚᵣₒₓᵢₘᵢₜy = −0.175, p = 0.017; β ᵢₘₐgₑᵣy = −0.214, p = 0.003; β wₐᵢₜₗᵢₛₜ = −0.138, p = 0.051), lower sAA-to-Cort ratios (AOCs) from pretest to posttest (β ₚᵣₒₓᵢₘᵢₜy = −0.277, p < 0.001; β ᵢₘₐgₑᵣy = −0.307, p < 0.001; β wₐᵢₜₗᵢₛₜ = −0.172, p = 0.014), lower AOCs from wakeup to posttest (β ₚᵣₒₓᵢₘᵢₜy = −0.135, p = 0.010; β ᵢₘₐgₑᵣy = −0.150, p = 0.004; β wₐᵢₜₗᵢₛₜ = −0.117, p = 0.021), and a smaller sAA increase from wakeup to posttest (β ₚᵣₒₓᵢₘᵢₜy = −0.216, p = 0.001; β ᵢₘₐgₑᵣy = −0.247, p < 0.001; β wₐᵢₜₗᵢₛₜ = −0.130, p = 0.033) compared with the AVP touch condition, indicating greater autonomic arousal (sAA) and coordination of stress systems (AOCs) in AVP touch participants. These results suggest that touch is the primary AVP component facilitating adaptive stress-related physiological states among participating university students.
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