A public hospital in the Community of Madrid, the Doctor Rodríguez Lafora Hospital, has launched an innovative initiative in Spain: a dog-assisted therapy program for adults with severe mental disorders. Twenty patients admitted to the Long-Term Psychiatric Care Unit have participated in its Animal-Assisted Intervention Workshop and have shown positive progress throughout the sessions.
The goal of the workshops, as noted by the Community of Madrid in a press release, is“to promote participants’ emotional well-being, social interaction, and bonding.” The initiative is part of the community care model that the Doctor Rodríguez Lafora Public Hospital has been promoting since 2025, which is focused on humanizing care and developing new therapeutic tools for patients with prolonged hospital stays.
An innovative therapy with positive preliminary results
The World Health Organization’s WHO-5 questionnaire was used to evaluate the therapy’s success. An increase in the patients’ average subjective mental well-being score was observed throughout the workshop sessions, particularly between the last two sessions, when a 31% increase was recorded.
Of course, it should be noted that these are preliminary results; only 20 patients participated in the workshop, attendance was variable, and some participants had difficulty completing all the questionnaires.
Even so, one of the most frequent requests from participants has been for the initiative to be repeated or continued. They highlighted the direct contact with the dogs, the activities carried out with them, the affection they received, and the relaxed atmosphere during the sessions. The center plans to continue evaluating the results of future editions of the workshop to determine whether to keep it in its portfolio of activities.