Animal-assisted Resilience Training for Children With Stressful Life Events or Autism Spectrum Disorder

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Life Change Events

• Registration Number: NCT06025539
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the effects of an animal-assisted resilience training in children who experienced stressful life events or who have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. The main question it aims to answer is:

• Is an animal-assisted resilience training a feasible approach to increase resilience in children with a history of stressful life events or a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder?

Participants will take part in 12 training sessions of a standardized resilience training. The training is group-based, takes place outdoors, and includes interactions with different animals. It focuses on self-esteem, self-perception, dealing with emotions, and social competence.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-08-10
• Study First Submitted: 2023-08-22
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-08-29
• Study First Posted: 2023-09-06
• Status Verified: 2025-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-08-07
• Last Update Posted: 2025-08-12
• Primary Completion: 2025-10-30
• Study Completion: 2025-10-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 83

Inclusion Criteria

• Age between 2 and 4 years (toddler group) or 8 and 12 years (children group)
• History of at least one stressful life event experience OR diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• Basic knowledge of either German or English of parents and child to follow the instructions during the training sessions and completion of interviews.

Exclusion Criteria

• Medical contraindications for contact with animals, such as allergies or phobia

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Questionnaire on resources in childhood and adolescence	18 weeks	Pre-to-post assessment changes in resilience

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Questionnaire to assess emotion regulation in children and adolescents	18 weeks	Pre-to-post assessment changes in emotion regulation
Number of attended sessions	12 weeks	Number of attended sessions over the course of the training
Feeling secure and motivation to participate as measured on a 0-10 scale	12 weeks	Motivation and feeling secure as measured at the beginning and end of each session
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)	18 weeks	Pre-to-post assessment changes in peer-relationship problems and prosocial behavior measures
Intervention satisfaction as assessed in semi-structured interview	18 weeks (follow-up)	Satisfaction with program content and structure, as measured by qualitative interview

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Basel; 🇨🇭 Basel, Switzerland