Paws or Processors? The Effects of Canine- and Robot-Assisted Interventions on Student Mental Health

Abstract

Background: University life confronts students with numerous demands. As a result, mental health difficulties among postsecondary students continue to rise. Canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) have gained increasing attention as a low-threshold approach to supporting student well-being. However, their scalability is limited by practical and welfare-related constraints associated with live animals.
Aims: This study builds on the work of Rothkopf and Schworm (2021) and Dincer et al. (2024). It directly compares a canine-assisted intervention with a structurally equivalent robot-assisted intervention. It was additionally examined whether the type of real-dog interaction (active play versus petting) differentially affects student well-being.
Methods: 60 university students were randomly assigned to one of three 15-minute conditions: active play with a dog, petting a dog, or interacting with a robot dog while watching a slideshow of dog pictures. Well-being was assessed before and after the intervention using the Basler Befindlichkeitsskala, and intervention acceptance was assessed afterwards.
Results: A 2 x 3 mixed ANOVA showed that well-being improved significantly across all conditions. Both real-dog conditions produced significantly greater improvements than the robot-dog condition, while play and petting did not differ significantly from one another. Both real-dog conditions were also rated as significantly more acceptable than the robot-dog condition, although acceptance of the robot dog remained moderate. The intervention acceptance, but not the attitude toward dogs, significantly predicted the change in well-being.
Conclusion: These findings confirm that brief interactions with a real dog produce greater improvements in students' subjective well-being than a comparable robot-assisted format. This holds regardless of the interaction type, while suggesting that robot-assisted interventions may nonetheless serve as a scalable, welfare-unconstrained complement to canine-assisted programmes where live animals cannot be deployed.