wellness effects of animal-assisted activities with autism spectrum disorder youth in a specialized psychiatric hospital

Conditions: Child Behavior; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Psychiatric Hospitalization; Veterinary Therapeutics

Summary: 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.

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.

Eligibility criteria:
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