Wellness Effects of Animal-assisted Activities With Autism Spectrum Disorder Youth in a Specialized Psychiatric Hospital
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About
Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at higher risk for developing co-existing mental health conditions and consequently experiencing psychiatric hospitalization, compared to the general pediatric population. However, hospital environments can be exceptionally stressful for this population, given their social-communication deficits, ineffective emotional regulation skills and heightened physiological arousal. While the use of animal-assisted activities (AAA) show potential for various improvements in children with ASD in community settings, these "stress-reducing" and "social-buffering" benefits have not yet been studied within a psychiatric hospital setting for youth with ASD.
Objectives: Evaluate whether an AAA with canines can lead to reduced physiological arousal and improvements in social-communication as well as aberrant behaviors in children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD in a specialized psychiatric hospital setting.
Methods: Participants were recruited from the Neuropsychiatric Special Care (NSC) program's inpatient and/or partial day-treatment program. Prior to study participation, baseline demographic measures were acquired from caregivers and participants' ASD diagnosis was confirmed. Participants experienced two, randomly assigned 35-minute sessions (AAA and Control Condition) with a minimum two-day washout period between groups. Each session included a baseline 20-minute social skills group immediately followed by a 10 minute experimental or control condition. The AAA condition introduced a canine and volunteer handler for free interaction time while the control condition introduced a novel toy and a volunteer for free interaction. Participants' physiological arousal was continuously assessed throughout all conditions via the Empatica E-4 wristbands (Empatica Inc. 2014). All sessions were videotaped for behavioral coding using the Observation of Human Animal Interaction for Research - Modified, v.1.
Full description
Background: Children with ASD are at higher risk for developing co-existing mental health conditions and consequently experiencing psychiatric hospitalization, compared to the general pediatric population. However, hospital environments can be exceptionally stressful for this population, given their social-communication deficits, ineffective emotional regulation skills and heightened physiological arousal. While the use of animal-assisted activities (AAA) show potential for various improvements in children with ASD in community settings, these "stress-reducing" and "social-buffering" benefits have not yet been studied within a psychiatric hospital setting for youth with ASD.
Objectives: Evaluate whether an AAA with canines can lead to reduced physiological arousal and improvements in social-communication as well as aberrant behaviors in children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD in a specialized psychiatric hospital setting.
Methods: Participants were recruited from the Neuropsychiatric Special Care (NSC) program's inpatient and/or partial day-treatment program. Prior to study participation, baseline demographic measures were acquired from caregivers and participants' ASD diagnosis was confirmed. Participants experienced two, randomly assigned 35-minute sessions (AAA and Control Condition) with a minimum two-day washout period between groups. Each session included a baseline 20-minute social skills group immediately followed by a 10 minute experimental or control condition. The AAA condition introduced a canine and volunteer handler for free interaction time while the control condition introduced a novel toy and a volunteer for free interaction. Participants' physiological arousal was continuously assessed throughout all conditions via the Empatica E-4 wristbands (Empatica Inc. 2014). All sessions were videotaped for behavioral coding using the Observation of Human Animal Interaction for Research - Modified, v.1.
Enrollment
Sex
Ages
Volunteers
Inclusion criteria
- Admitted to a specialized psychiatric unit for children with developmental disabilities
- Meeting standard cut-off scores for ASD on the Social Communication Questionnaire Screener (> 12) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd Ed
- English speaking
Exclusion criteria
- Unwillingness to wear wristband & be videotaped
- Allergies or phobias to canines
- Inability to attend to and participate in a social group
- Prisoner status or ward of the state
Trial design
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Interventional model
Masking
75 participants in 2 patient groups
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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov
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