The use of Animal-Assisted Therapy in adolescents with acute mental disorders: A randomized controlled study

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) with a standard treatment protocol in children and adolescents admitted to the psychiatry hospital for acute mental disorders. We used a methodology involving high quality standards for AAT research.

Design: A pre-post experimental design with a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in 34 hospitalized patients (17 treatment, 17 control) was carried out.

Main outcome measures: The study focused on improvement in clinical status including, global functioning measured by the Children Global Assessment Scale (C GAS), format of care and ordinary school attendance measured by a rating scale.

Results: Our results indicate a statistically significant improvement in global functioning, reduction in format of care and increased ordinary school attendance in the treatment group, but not in the control group.

Conclusions: Our results verify that AAT can have significant positive effects on therapeutic progress and the recovery process.

Keywords: Acute psychiatric disorders in children/adolescents; Animal-Assisted Therapy in pediatric hospital; Methodology of AAT; Randomized controlled study.