Exploratory Study of Cat Adoption in Families of Children with Autism: Impact on Children's Social Skills and Anxiety

Carlisle, Gretchen K.; Johnson, Rebecca A.; Wang, Ze; Bibbo, Jessica; Cheak‐Zamora, Nancy; Lyons, Leslie A.

doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2020.11.011

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Similarly, the correlation between pet ownership and owners’ anxiety symptoms is limited and inconclusive. Some exploratory studies have reported a link between pet ownership and decreased anxiety symptoms in children with autism [ 110 , 111 ] and in older adults [ 112 ]. However, other studies have reported no correlations [ 113 ], or increased anxiety in pet owners [ 106 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression, anxiety, and happiness in dog owners and potential dog owners during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Martin¹,

Bachert²,

Snow³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Major life events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, affect psychological and physiological health. Social support, or the lack thereof, can modulate these effects. The context of the COVID-19 pandemic offered a unique opportunity to better understand how dogs may provide social support for their owners and buffer heightened symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression and contribute to happiness during a major global crisis. Participants (768 pet dog owners and 767 potential pet dog owners) answered an online survey, including validated depression, anxiety, happiness psychometric scales, attitude to and commitment towards pet, and perceived social support. Potential pet dog owners were defined as individuals who did not own a dog at the time of the survey but would be very or extremely interested in owning one in the future. Dog owners reported having significantly more social support available to them compared to potential dog owners, and their depression scores were also lower, compared to potential dog owners. There were no differences in anxiety and happiness scores between the two groups. Dog owners had a significantly more positive attitude towards and commitment to pets. Taken together, our results suggest that dog ownership may have provided people with a stronger sense of social support, which in turn may have helped buffer some of the negative psychological impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression, anxiety, and happiness in dog owners and potential dog owners during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Martin¹,

Bachert²,

Snow³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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“…No que tange às habilidades de socialização, muitas crianças autistas desenvolveram-nas durante o processo da TAA (Germone et al, 2019), uma vez que o contato com os animais facilitava a apresentação de maiores características de comunicação (Charry-Sánchez et al, 2018;Germone et al, 2019;Nowell et al, 2019;Gomes et al, 2020;Ávila-Álvarez et al, 2020;Dimolareva & Dunn, 2020), habilidades psicossociais (Carlisle et al, 2021;Figueiredo et al, 2021, Mandrá et al, 2019 e lúdicas (Hill, et al, 2020b). Diante disso, essas habilidades colaboram para o desenvolvimento social, psicológico e acadêmico da criança autista, auxiliando sua inserção nas comunidades e o convívio com outras pessoas portadoras ou não de TEA.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Efeitos da Terapia Assistida por Animais na melhoria das habilidades sociais de crianças autistas

Araujo

Amâncio

Araújo

et al. 2023

RSD

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A Terapia Assistida por Animais (TAA) tornou-se uma intervenção muito presente nos casos de terapia com crianças portadoras do Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA), uma vez que auxilia o paciente a desenvolver a autonomia e habilidades sociais, as quais são bastante afetadas por esse distúrbio. O objetivo do presente estudo é conhecer os efeitos que a TAA proporciona às crianças com TEA, principalmente no que tange às habilidades sociais. Sendo assim, para definição da questão de pesquisa utilizou-se da estratégia PICO, definindo a questão central que orientou o estudo: “Em crianças com autismo, a terapia assistida por animais é eficaz para a melhoria das interações sociais?”. Para a coleta de informações utilizadas para a construção desta revisão integrativa da literatura foram analisados 20 artigos científicos datados de 2017 a 2022, os quais foram pesquisados nas seguintes bases de dados: Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde (BVS), Scientif Eletronic Library Online (SciELO), National Library of Medicine (PubMed), EbscoHost e Google Schoolar. Os resultados encontrados identificou que a TAA proporcionou efeitos positivos nas habilidades sociais, na autonomia, na expressão de emoções e na redução dos sintomas em crianças portadoras do TEA. Diante disso, a TAA mostrou-se efetiva como uma forma de intervenção não medicamentosa que influencia beneficamente a qualidade de vida e o biopsicossocial do paciente, uma vez que o desenvolvimento das habilidades sociais interferem, de forma positiva, na educação escolar e, sobretudo, nas interações interpessoais da criança.

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“…This study was approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the University (protocol #9583). This study was nested into a randomized controlled trial with families of children with ASD adopting shelter cats ( 14 ). A repeated measures design with data collection at baseline, 2–3 days after cat adoption, and weeks 6, 12, and 18 was conducted.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parents in the adopting families were also contacted by study staff 3 weeks after adoption to inquire about cat acclimation and to offer educational support, if needed. Results on the child arm of the study, including child-cat interaction and bonding go beyond the aim of this study and were published separately ( 14 ). Findings in the child arm indicated that cat adoption might be beneficial for some children with ASD.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploratory Study of Fecal Cortisol, Weight, and Behavior as Measures of Stress and Welfare in Shelter Cats During Assimilation Into Families of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Carlisle

Johnson

Koch³

et al. 2021

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Background: Cats are a common companion animal (CA) in US households, and many live in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The prevalence of ASD is one in 54, and many children have behavior challenges as well as their diagnostic communication disorders.Objective: Benefits of CAs for children with ASD have been identified, but little is known about the welfare of CAs in these homes. This study explored the welfare of cats (N = 10) screened for ideal social and calm temperament using the Feline Temperament Profile (FTP) and adopted by families of children with ASD.Methods: Cat stress was measured using fecal cortisol, weight, and a behavior stress measure (cat stress score). Measures were taken at baseline in the shelter, 2–3 days after adoption, and at weeks 6, 12, and 18.Result: Outcome measures suggested the adopted cats' stress levels did not increase postadoption; however, the small sample size limited analytical power and generalizability.Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence for the success of cat adoption by families of children with ASD, when cats have been temperament screened and cat behavior educational information is provided. Further research is warranted to confirm these findings.

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Exploratory Study of Cat Adoption in Families of Children with Autism: Impact on Children's Social Skills and Anxiety

Cited by 16 publications

References 48 publications

Depression, anxiety, and happiness in dog owners and potential dog owners during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Depression, anxiety, and happiness in dog owners and potential dog owners during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Efeitos da Terapia Assistida por Animais na melhoria das habilidades sociais de crianças autistas

Exploratory Study of Fecal Cortisol, Weight, and Behavior as Measures of Stress and Welfare in Shelter Cats During Assimilation Into Families of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

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