Clinical trial NCT05803343: Evaluating Additive Effects of Including Canines in Regulating Together
Official title: Evaluating Additive Effects of Including Canines in Regulating Together: A Group Treatment to Address Emotion Dysregulation in Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: PHASE2
Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Emotion Regulation
Lead sponsor: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-04-07
Enrollment: 240
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 8
Maximum age (years): 15
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The primary objective is to evaluate the potential additive effect of animal-assisted intervention (AAI) on a manualized behavioral treatment targeting emotion dysregulation (ED) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Aim 1: Evaluate whether Regulating Together-Canine demonstrates earlier and greater improvement in emotion dysregulation than Regulating Together-Standard.

Aim 2: Evaluate if Regulating Together-Canine increases child engagement and learning compared to Regulating Together-Standard.

Exploratory Aim: Explore association of physiological arousal (via heart rate tracking) with emotion dysregulation, treatment engagement, and learning.

Detailed description: Children between the ages of 8 years 0 months and 15 years 11 months with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and emotion dysregulation (ED) and their caregivers will participate in 5 research visits and 10 group intervention sessions. They are randomly assigned to either Regulating Together-Standard group (no dog), or Regulating Together-Canine group (with dog). Characterization measures will be completed at Screen (T1). All outcome measures will be completed at Baseline (T2), Post-treatment (1-2 weeks following treatment completion, T3), 10 week post treatment completion follow up (T4), and 6 month post treatment completion follow up (T5).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Concern of emotion dysregulation (ED) as measured by a score of 6 or greater on the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory-Reactivity (EDI-R)
* Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
* Diagnosis confirmed by an experienced ASD clinician and further supported by scoring in the range for ASD on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2)
* A Full Scale Intelligence Quotient score of 65 or greater on the Weschler Abbreviated Scale Intelligence (WASI-II)
* English is the primary language
* Family willing to keep prescribed medication stable over the course of the study period

Exclusion Criteria:

* Participant has a phobia toward or is allergic to canines
* Participant has a history of aggression toward animals
* Participant has had any physical aggression toward other children outside the home in the past 2 weeks that resulted in injury
* Presence of comorbid major neuropsychiatric illness warranting other treatment approaches as determined by the study clinician(s) including substance use disorders, psychotic disorders/schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, among others
* Presence of any major sensory impairment that would limit participating in the material including blindness or uncorrected hearing loss
* A legal guardian is not available to provide informed consent

Primary outcomes:
measure: Emotion Dysregulation Inventory-Reactivity (EDI-R)
timeFrame: Through study completion
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Cincinnati
country: United States
facility: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
state: Ohio
Study officials:
affiliation: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
name: Rebecca Shaffer, Psy.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: