Therapy dogs can help boost the spirits of healthcare workers in the same way they brighten the moods of hospital patients, a new study shows.

 The furry, four-legged friends reduced emotional exhaustion and job stress among a small group of workers at two surgical and two intensive care units in the Midwest, researchers report.

“We brought the dogs to the units and many times we had staff in tears sitting with the dogs, telling them about their day,” said lead investigator Beth Steinberg, a senior researcher with Ohio State University’s Center for Integrative Health.

“For the most part, people have an affinity to a non-judgmental, warm, furry animal that can come and just sit with them and listen,” Steinberg said in a university news release. “Dogs don't care what you look like, how you're feeling that day; they just know that when you need them, they're there.”

Steinberg is co-founder of Buckeye Paws, a therapy dog program initially aimed at improving the mental and emotional health of staff at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Buckeye Paws launched in March 2020, shortly before the pandemic began taking its toll on overtaxed health professionals.

To see whether the program is making a difference, researchers focused therapy dog sessions with a group of 64 health care workers. The group included doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory and rehabilitation therapists, patient care associates and unit clerks.

“The recruitment for this study was incredibly easy because as soon as you said, ‘We're going to do a study assessing your response to therapy dog interaction,’ people were like, ‘I'm in!’” Steinberg said. “Even before COVID-19 hit hospitals so hard, the staff were already struggling with stress, burnout, lack of work engagement.”

Buckeye Paws handlers — all hospital employees who volunteered their time — brought in seven certified therapy dogs three times a week for eight weeks. The study ran from October 2021 to March 2022.

“There was free interaction with the dogs that people could spend as much or as little time as they wanted with the dogs,” Steinberg said. “Prior to their interactions, we asked them to fill out a basic 1 to 10 mood scale. And then, after the interaction, they did that again.”

Most interactions were brief, just a few minutes between a dog and a health care worker at a clinical workstation or in a team room or break room.

But results showed the brief sessions made a big impact.

Many study participants reported an immediate decrease in feelings of stress, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and burnout.

“Our findings suggest that an animal-assisted activity, available for healthcare workers within busy inpatient settings, may offer immediate benefits through improved mood,” researchers concluded in their report, which was published recently in the International Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine.

Buckeye Paws expanded in March 2022, and now provides therapy dog assistance to students, faculty and staff at Ohio State University. There are now 29 dog-handler teams in the program, with another 11 teams going under training and eight more beginning the process, researchers said.