RCT of an Animal-Assisted Intervention With Adjudicated Youth
Overview
- Phase
- Phase 3
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Conduct Disorder
- Sponsor
- Wayne State University
- Enrollment
- 150
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Change in Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms as measured by the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report and Youth Self Report forms
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 10 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The project involves testing the efficacy of an animal-assisted intervention (AAI). The AAI consists of a 10-week program in which adjudicated adolescents train shelter dogs and will be compared to a dog walking control group matched for educational content and dog contact time. The investigators expect that the AAI will result in improved empathy skills and that dog attachment will explain these findings. The investigators also explore the extent to which the AAI will improve internalizing and externalizing symptoms in these adolescents.
Detailed Description
Adjudicated adolescents (i.e., teens who have committed criminal offenses and are incarcerated in juvenile detention centers) have deficits in emotion regulation, including empathy skills, and are at risk for a host of poor outcomes including repeat offenses, internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety), externalizing symptoms (e.g., lying, truancy, fighting). Many of these problems stem from a lack of secure attachment to parents and peers. There is a need for novel and innovative programs to help these teens develop more secure attachments and better empathy skills to prevent poor outcomes. One type of intervention is animal-assisted interventions such as dog training programs. These programs appear to build empathy skills in at-risk youth, which may translate into better peer relations, less psychological distress, and less recidivism. The goal of this study is to test an existing animal-assisted intervention program that is already being used in juvenile detention centers to determine whether it is efficacious in improving adjudicated adolescents' empathy skills and psychological symptoms through building a secure attachment to the training dog.
Investigators
Annmarie Cano
Associate Professor
Wayne State University
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •must be a resident of participating juvenile justice center in Michigan
Exclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change in Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms as measured by the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report and Youth Self Report forms
Time Frame: baseline and 10 weeks
The Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist is a standardized measure of child behavior problems that assesses observers' and children's reports of the children's anxiety and depression (internalizing) and acting out (externalizing) behaviors.
Secondary Outcomes
- Change in empathy toward other people(baseline and 10 weeks)