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UT pilot study examines benefits of emotional support animals

The Blade - 5/28/2021

May 28—A pilot study led by a University of Toledo researcher published recently indicates emotional support animals offer measurable benefits for people with serious mental illness.

Janet Hoy-Gerlach, a social work professor who studies the human-animal bond, said the study completed in 2019 is the first of its kind to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. While there has been much research on the benefits pets have on their people, there has been very little specifically aimed at emotional support animals, often shortened to ESAs.

"It's a really under-utilized resource," she told The Blade. "Animals can be incredible partners for our well being."

The study, titled "Exploring Benefits of Emotional Support Animals (ESAs): A Longitudinal Pilot Study with Adults with Serious Mental Illness (SMI)" and published May 17 in the Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, followed 11 adults in the ProMedica Hope and Recovery Pet, or HARP, program. The program pairs low-income individuals who have diagnosed mental illness with a rescue cat or dog from the Toledo Humane Society, paying for the animals' care throughout their lifetimes.

Gaye Martin, manager of ProMedica's social determinants of health division who oversees HARP, said the study's findings weren't surprising. The research confirms what many people already know to be true.

"We have seen the amazing transformation in some cases in how well the participants do after getting a pet and making it part of their family," she said.

ESAs are not service or therapy animals. They require no formal training and are similar to pets, but their status is elevated because their companionship provides a person relief from diagnosed mental illness. ESAs are covered under the federal Fair Housing Act when a health-care provider issues a written statement deeming the animal necessary to mitigate a patient's mental-health disability.

"It's not a high-resource, high-technology kind of support," Ms. Hoy-Gerlach said. "It's pretty basic and simple. It's companionship."

Ms. Hoy-Gerlach and the research team followed 11 HARP participants for a year from the time they were referred to the program and matched with an animal. Participants were given standardized surveys to measure depression, anxiety, and loneliness before receiving their pet and 12 months after.

The surveys yielded statistically significant decreases in all three areas.

"All of them stated their mental health was better and that they strongly believed that was because of the emotional support animal," Ms. Hoy-Gerlach said.

The team also visited participants at one, three, six, nine, and 12 months into the program to collect saliva samples before and after 10-minute sessions of focused interaction with their ESAs. The samples were tested to measure levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone, as well as oxytocin, often called the "love hormone" that is related to relationships and bonding.

"This was not statistically significant, however there's a consistent pattern of people's oxytocin levels going up and their cortisol levels going down," Ms. Hoy-Gerlach said.

She noted oxytocin levels were at their highest at the 12-month mark, indicating participants' bonds with their ESAs intensified as time progressed.

Tests measuring a third biomarker, the enzyme alpha amylase that can indicate stress, were inconclusive.

Quotes from interviews with participants included in the study show the animals provided not only comfort and symptom mitigation, but motivation to care for themselves because the animal needs them.

"I see what it's helping me do," one person said. "It's helping me get up and do things I can't do for just myself."

The pilot study was funded by the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust. Ms. Hoy-Gerlach said she hopes to expand it to include a larger number of subjects and more rigorous methodology.

"One thing this study did not do is quantify the health-care cost of those individuals," Ms. Martin said. "That would be the next big thing to do with a larger group, to see how it affects their health care overall."

One participant was quoted in the study as saying they believed their ESA kept them out of a hospital.

"She is helping keep me even keeled," the person said. "I think about a year ago if I had been in the situation I have been in lately, a year ago I would probably be in the hospital right now, but she sits on me and keeps me even."

Another person indicated their ESA kept them out of other kinds of trouble, saying, "Without her I think I would have been locked up somewhere because I lost my mind."

ProMedica is working to seek grants and raise other funds for the program. Ms. Martin said the HARP expects to pay about $8,000 over the course of 10 years for each animal it provides, and will support Ms. Hoy-Gerlach's future research endeavors.

"I'm hoping this catalyzes more research and helps raise awareness of how these animals can really be life-changing for people," Ms. Hoy-Gerlach said.

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