Multi-site Animal Assisted Intervention for Children With DD and Their Family Dog

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Social Wellbeing; Physical Activity
• Interventions: Behavioral: Do As I Do (DAID) dog training

• Registration Number: NCT04799119
• Lead Sponsor: Oregon State University

Brief Summary

The study purpose is to evaluate a novel multidisciplinary approach to fostering a therapeutic partnership between the participants with developmental disabilities and the participants family dog. This will culminate in an Animal Assisted Intervention aimed at increasing activity levels, enhancing social support, and increasing feeling of responsibility and wellbeing within this population.

Detailed Description

The goal of this proposal is to evaluate a large scale novel multidisciplinary approach to fostering atherapeutic partnership between adolescents with developmental disabilities (DD) and the participants family dog. The investigators will evaluate imitative 'Do As I Do' (DAID) training into a unique Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) aimed at increasing activity levels, enhancing social support by promoting a stronger dog-human bond, and increasing feelings of responsibility and wellbeing within this population.

The investigators propose to address the critical need for empirical evaluation of novel theoretically based multi-site animal assisted interventions through the following specific aims.

Specific Aim 1: To evaluate a novel multi-site DAID dog training intervention to promote physical activity in adolescents with developmental disabilities.

Specific Aim 2: To evaluate the impact of a multi-site DAID intervention on the adolescent's quality of life and feelings of social wellbeing.

Specific Aim 3: To evaluate the impact of a multi-site DAID intervention on the child-dog relationship and mutual wellbeing.

Participant Population: Adolescent participants with a developmental disability, between the ages of 10-17 years will be recruited through community-based programs/organizations associated with children with DDs in around our sites. A DD will be confirmed through parent report (e.g., initial recruitment conversations, and documented through the initial demographic questionnaire).

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-02-04
• Study First Submitted: 2021-03-11
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-03-11
• Study First Posted: 2021-03-16
• Status Verified: 2024-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-05-07
• Last Update Posted: 2024-05-08
• Primary Completion: 2026-01-31
• Study Completion: 2027-02-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

• Age 10-17 years
• Developmental disability (per parental report)
• Possesses family dog
• Participant can follow basis instructions.

Exclusion Criteria

• Cannot follow basic instructions.
• Non english-speakers.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
DAID dog training	Do As I Do (DAID) dog training	'Do As I Do' (DAID) dog training employs operant conditioning to train dogs to copy the behavior of their owner upon hearing the verbal cue 'Do it', similar to teaching a dog the rules behind the game 'Simon Says'. Once this rule has been established and generalized, something that can be achieved in dogs by practicing with only 3-6 initially learned behaviors, owners can demonstrate new actions and use the cue 'Do it' to prompt a matched, imitative, behavioral response.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Physical Activity	One year	Physical activity will be measure through accelerometry.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Social well-being	One year	Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Oregon State University; 🇺🇸 Corvallis, Oregon, United States