There’s nothing easy about cancer treatment. But studies have shown that having a dog around can help – at least on the emotional side of things. That’s right. Dogs help people with cancer treatment.
A 2015 study of patients with head and neck cancers was among the first to scientifically test the effects of therapy to ease human anxiety.
“We can take for granted that supportive care for cancer patients, like a healthy diet, has benefits,” said Dr. Stewart Fleishman, the lead researcher on the 2015 study. “We wanted to really test animal-assisted therapy and quantify the effects.”
Fleishman, now retired, was founding director of cancer supportive services at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
The researchers followed 42 patients who were undergoing six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation for head and neck cancers, mostly affecting the mouth and throat to find out if dogs help people with cancer treatment.
All of the patients agreed to have visits with a therapy dog right before each of their treatment sessions. The dogs, trained by the Good Dog Foundation, were brought to the waiting room, or hospital room, so patients could spend about 15 minutes with them.
The chemo/radiation regimen in this study was “intense,” Fleishman said. “These patients get very sick. They can’t eat well, they have trouble speaking. The treatment becomes more of a burden than the cancer.”
Using standard questionnaires to determine how patients were feeling, Fleishman’s team found that patients’ physical well-being deteriorated over the course of their treatment. But their emotional and “social” well-being actually increased.
Fleishman noted that one patient had commented he would’ve stopped the treatment but wanted to come see the dog. “I think patients can take heart,” he said. “There are interventions that can make the quality of that time better.”