Pets Assisting with Student Success (PAWSS)

The Practice: Developed by MacEwan University, Pets Assisting with Student Success (PAWSS) is a low-barrier accessible Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) designed to support student wellness. PAWSS programming includes drop-in sessions on campus, where students, staff, and community members are invited to interact with PAWSS-certified animals and their handler. PAWSS also has a classroom program where animals are brought into the classroom with the aim to reduce students stress. More recently, PAWSS has been piloted in undergraduate student residences. Preliminary evidence supports that PAWSS has positive impacts on student stress, with further need to measure the impacts on social integration and academic success.

Since its launch in 2018, the program has partnered with student groups from the Centre for Sexual and Gender Identity and Kihew Waciston Indigenous Centre. Additional collaborations across campus resulted in PAWSS participating in 113 on-campus events in 2023.

The Evidence: Using data collected between 2017-2018 with 546 participants at MacEwan University, the PAWSS team explored how AAIs impacted university students’ perception of momentary stress (Chute et al, 2023). Students completed the Stress Numerical Rating Scale-11 (Stress NRS-11) pre-AAI session and post-AAI session. Results from this research showed participation in the AAI session reduced students’ perception of momentary stress. Results also showed that first-year students, female-identified students, and students identifying as sexual minorities were found to benefit the most from AAIs.

The PAWSS team also conducted a qualitative study in 2023 to explore the experiences and perspectives of undergraduate students living at a MacEwan University residence who attended Animal Assisted Activities (AAAs) sessions within their residence. A total of 20 students completed a narrative experience form and reported satisfaction with the convenience of having AAA sessions in residence and expressed interest in having additional sessions during examination periods. Students who attended at least three AAA sessions were invited to attend a focus group, of which 10 students participated. Key themes that emerged from focus group interviews included AAAs as a mental health support, AAAs as a foundation for building community and social support networks, and AAAs in residence create feelings of home.

Publications:

Chute A, Vihos J, Johnston S, Buro K, Velupillai N. The effect of animal-assisted intervention on undergraduate students’ perception of momentary stress. Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 22;14:1253104.

Practice Category: Emerging

If you are interested in learning more about PAWSS, please contact pawss@macewan.ca