Verification of the Effectiveness of Animal Therapy using Wearable Sensors: Changes in Biological Parameters by Pony Riding Comparing animal caretaker and healthy subject

Abstract

In recent years, animal therapy has been adopted in various fields such as medicine and welfare because it is expected to improve symptoms of dementia and depression as well as relieve stress. However, repeated exposure to a certain stimulus may cause a gradual loss of response to that stimulus (habituation), and previous studies have shown that habituation tends to occur with neutral stimuli that are neither rewarding nor harmful. In this study, 5 animal caretakers (2 female) and 5 healthy subjects (4 female) who were exposed to nature on a regular basis were fitted with wristwatch-type wearable sensors, and their biological parameters were compared during pony riding. The results showed that the caretakers did not show significant biometric changes in response to animal and were considered to be accustomed to it.