Dog-Assisted Therapy for Children and Adolescents With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders a Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

• Main Authors: Raquel Vidal, Laura Vidal, Francesc Ristol, Eva Domènec, Marta Segú, Cristina Vico, Núria Gomez-Barros, Josep Antoni Ramos-Quiroga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-05-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: FASD; animal-assisted therapy; dog-assisted therapy; human-animal interactions; psychosocial treatments
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01080/full

ObjectiveThe rationale of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of dog-assisted therapy (DAT) combined with pharmacological treatment in children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).MethodWe conducted a randomized, rater-blinded, controlled pilot trial in a cohort of 33 children and adolescents with FASD. Participants were randomly assigned either to DAT group (n = 17) or Treatment as Usual (TAU control group) (n = 16).ResultsOf the initial 39 participants enrolled, 33 completed treatment. A mixed-effects model analysis revealed that participants who were assigned to the DAT group experienced significantly improvements on social skills (SSIS-P social skills: p = 0.02, d = 0.8), reductions on externalizing symptoms (CBCL externalizing: p = 0.03; d = 0.56), and lower scores on FASD severity (CGI-S clinician: p = 0.001, d = 0.5).ConclusionDAT is a promising adjunctive treatment for children and adolescents with FASD.Clinical Trial RegistrationDog-assisted therapy for children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: a randomized controlled pilot study; http://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier NCT04038164.