NCT06875999

Pet Therapy Effects on Pain, Emotional and Physiological Responses in Children Undergoing Allergy Testing

Not yet recruiting NA Last updated 18 March 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing animal assisted therapy in Allergy Testing in 80 participants. Not yet recruiting.

Timeline

1 April 2025

Primary endpoint
30 January 2026

30 April 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Mehtap METİN KARAASLAN
Phase	NA
Status	Not yet recruiting
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	supportive care
Enrollment	80
Start date	1 April 2025
Primary completion	30 January 2026
Estimated completion	30 April 2026

Drugs / interventions tested

• animal assisted therapy

Conditions studied

• Allergy Testing — all drugs for Allergy Testing →
• Pain, Emotional Symptoms and Physiological Parameters — all drugs for Pain, Emotional Symptoms and Physiological Parameters →

Sponsor

Mehtap METİN KARAASLAN

Who can join

Adults 3 to 6, any sex, with Allergy Testing or Pain, Emotional Symptoms and Physiological Parameters. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

In recent decades, the prevalence of allergic diseases, particularly respiratory allergies, has risen significantly. In childhood, house dust mites are the primary indoor allergen in infancy, while the prevalence of pollen sensitization increases with age. As one of the largest immunologic organs, the skin frequently displays allergic responses; therefore, the Skin Prick Test (SPT) is widely used for diagnostic purposes. SPT is quick, cost-effective, highly sensitive, and rarely causes adverse effects, yet it may still induce stress or anxiety in children-especially younger ones or when applied on the back.

Although distraction methods (e.g., toys, games, DistrACTION® Cards) are commonly used to reduce discomfort in minimally invasive pediatric procedures, there is limited research on strategies to alleviate stress during SPT. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to investigate the impact of pet therapy using betta fish on children's emotional symptoms (such as anger or irritability) and physiological parameters during SPT. The study will include 80 children, aged 3-6, who attend a pediatric allergy clinic between April 2025 and April 2026. Participants will be randomly assigned to control or experimental groups through simple and block randomization, ensuring age balance. Data collection instruments include a Personal Information Form, the Children's Emotional Indicator Scale, FLACC Pain Scale, and a Physiological Parameter Monitoring Form.

The study posits two main hypotheses:

Pet therapy positively affects emotional indicators of children based on their age.

Pet therapy influences physiological parameters by age group. Findings from this research may inform evidence-based interventions to reduce stress and anxiety in pediatric patients undergoing minimally invasive procedures like SPT.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.