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Monday, 31 October 2011: 3:15 PM
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the role of biomarkers salivary cortisol and Immunoglobulin A (IgA) on stress and health indicators.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to gain knowledge about the relationships between stress, animal-human interaction, and human health outcomes.
Stress can affect human health in a variety of ways and has a direct influence on biomarkers. Stress also influences immune system function, hormones, and immunoglobulin levels. As a nurse scientist, it is necessary to investigate interventions that decrease stress and increase human health outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this experimental study was to examine the relationships among stress indicators (as measured by stress indicators: salivary cortisol and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) before and after a 20 minute exposure to a certified animal assisted therapy (AAT) canine. The rights of human subjects were protected by obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Kean University prior to data collection. The participants, pet owners and non-pet owners, who agreed to participate (N = 33) were exposed to an experimental condition (canine exposure) and a control condition; over a two-week period. Salivary cortisol and IgA levels were measured by using a commercially-available saliva collection device and enzyme immunoassay (EIA) technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Analysis of variance yielded a significant interaction effect of salivary cortisol in non-pet owners, Wilks’s Λ = .57, F (1,16) = 11.86, p = .003. The significant result of this experiment provides a baseline for future study on using in vitro measures (biomarkers for salivary cortisol and IgA) to measure the relationships among stress indicators, pets as a coping resource, and human health outcomes.
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