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STORY: This Spanish hospital is trialing the use of therapy dogs

to improve the emotional wellness of ICU patients

Location: Barcelona, Spain

(Joel Bueno, Patient)

"When they told me what I had, that I was going to remain in hospital for who knows how long, I was feeling everything going down, work, everything. And when they told me that some dogs could come, it was like wow, my sister was there and it was great. From there it was up. Very happy."

The project will analyze patients’ saliva samples before and after a therapy session

to check whether stress indicators like cortisol decrease

while those related to wellbeing like oxytocin and serotonin increase

(Lucia Picazo, ICU doctor)

"They are delighted and thankful for having this opportunity. In the end, time at ICU feels very long. Obviously patients are very worried about their physical and emotional situation, so therapy like this helps them and takes a bit of stress off them, with the idea of having those substances related to wellness increased and is what we want to prove in the research."