Animal-assisted therapies for youth with or at risk for mental health problems: A systematic review

Abstract

To systematically review experimental evidence about animal-assisted therapies (AAT) for children or adolescents with or at risk for mental health conditions, we reviewed all experimental AAT studies published between 2000–2015, and compared studies by animal type, intervention, and outcomes. Methods: Studies were included if used therapeutically for children and adolescents (≤21 years) with or at risk for a mental health problem; used random assignment or a waitlist comparison/control group; and included child-specific outcome data. Of 1,535 studies, 24 met inclusion criteria. Results: Of 24 studies identified, almost half were randomized controlled trials, with 9 of 11 published in the past two years. The largest group addresses equine therapies for autism. Conclusion: Findings are generally promising for positive effects associated with equine therapies for autism and canine therapies for childhood trauma. The AAT research base is slim; a more focused research agenda is outlined.

Canine co‐therapy: The potential of dogs to improve the acceptability of trauma‐focused therapies for children

“…However, this may have resulted from the approach taken here whereby CAT was presented as an adjunct, rather than standalone, intervention. This approach was taken in recognition of the fact that there is not currently enough empirical backing to support AAT or CAT as standalone interventions, and consequently, clinicians may be unlikely to use or recommend them as such (Geist, ; Hoagwood et al, ; Nimer & Lundahl, ). What the current study demonstrates is that consumers appear to share this view, and may hold similar hesitations towards abandoning trusted and familiar treatment options, such as TF‐CBT.…”

“…Whilst this study has focused on the use of canines as an animal and children with trauma as a clinical population, other animal species and other therapeutic approaches have also shown promise (Kemp et al, ; Signal et al, ). Currently, the state of research on the efficacy of AAT in psychotherapy is poor (Hoagwood et al, ). Whilst a lack of empirical rigour has made drawing solid conclusions difficult, the lack of a uniformed research agenda has made it almost impossible for standardised and replicable procedures to be designed and tested (Geist, ).…”

“…AAT involves the goal‐directed use of a trained therapy animal in specific clinical interventions (Nimer & Lundahl, ). Whilst robust research on AAT is still limited (O'Haire et al, ), a recent meta‐analytic review by Hoagwood, Acri, Morrissey, and Peth‐Pierce () concluded that canine‐assisted therapy (CAT) was an effective intervention for childhood PTSD.…”

An Observational Study on Canine-assisted Play Therapy for Children with Autism: Move towards the Phrase of Manualization and Protocol Development

“…There has been a recent growth in empirical studies in this line of research. In the last decade, at least six studies were conducted to systematically review or perform meta-analyses of AAI studies (Berry et al, 2013;Davis et al, 2015;Hoagwood et al, 2016;Maujean et al, 2015;Nimer & Lundahl, 2007;O'Haire, 2013). Table 1 shows all AAI studies for the ASD population, with the exclusion of two AAI studies using guinea pigs (Krskova et al, 2010;O'Haire et al, 2015), that reviewed or analyzed in these six studies, revealing that most empirical AAI studies were published in the past few years.…”

“…The results of this randomized controlled trial, which has been published (Fung & Leung, 2014) and included in a recent AAT review paper (Hoagwood et al, 2016), showed that the CAPT intervention produced small but statistically significant increases in the verbal social behavior of children with autism, whereas the comparison intervention did not (Fung & Leung, 2014). Given that a single case study has the unique ability to present a detailed intervention, the case studies were planned to achieve two aims.…”