Effects of a Dog-Assisted Social- and Emotional-Competence Training for Prisoners: A Controlled Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 24;19(17):10553. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710553.

Abstract

Background: Previous research has called for improving psychological interventions and developing new treatments for prisoners. Animal-assisted prison-based programmes have increasingly been used as an approach, but there is a lack of studies investigating the effectiveness of such programmes.

Objective: To investigate the effects of a dog-assisted social- and emotional-competence training on the socioemotional competences of prisoners compared to treatment as usual.

Methods: In a controlled trial, we investigated 62 prisoners that participated in either a 6-month dog-assisted psychotherapeutic programme or the standard treatment. We assessed social and emotional competences before and after the training and at a 4-month follow-up. Data were analysed with linear models.

Results: The prisoners' self-assessed social and emotional competences did not differ. The psychotherapists rated the prisoners' emotional competences in the intervention group higher at the follow-up but not after the training. The psychotherapists did not rate the prisoners' social competences in the intervention group differently but did find them to have higher self-regulation at follow-up and lower aggressiveness after the training than the control group.

Conclusions: This study indicates that dog-assisted programmes with a therapeutic aim might be beneficial for prisoners. However, the inconsistent results indicate that more research is needed to determine the potential and limits of animal-assisted programmes in forensic settings.

Keywords: animal-assisted intervention; dog; emotional competence; prison; social competence.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Dogs
  • Emotions
  • Humans
  • Prisoners* / psychology
  • Prisons
  • Research Design

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation through an Ambizione grant (Grant PZ00P1_174082/1) to K.H. and by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Human–Animal Relationship (IEMT) in Switzerland.