1. Dog-Assisted Therapy vs Relaxation for Children and Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Study.
- Author
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Vidal, Raquel, Vidal, Laura, Lugo, Jorge, Ristol, Francesc, Domènec, Eva, Casas, Teresa, Veiga, Anna, Vico, Cristina, Ramos-Quiroga, Josep Antoni, and Gómez-Barros, Nuria
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PET therapy , *AUTONOMY (Psychology) , *T-test (Statistics) , *STATISTICAL significance , *RESEARCH funding , *STATISTICAL sampling , *TREATMENT effectiveness , *RANDOMIZED controlled trials , *CHI-squared test , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *FETAL alcohol syndrome , *QUALITY of life , *DATA analysis software , *RELAXATION techniques , *ADOLESCENCE - Abstract
The rationale of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Dog-assisted Therapy (DAT) in children and adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). We conducted a randomized controlled trial in a cohort of 71 children and adolescents with FASD. Participants were randomly assigned either to DAT group (n = 38) or Relaxation Group (control group) (n = 33). Results revealed that participants who were assigned to the DAT group experienced significantly reduced externalizing symptoms (CBCL Externalizing Inattention: t (69) = 2.81, p =.007; d = 0.7); CBCL Opposition: t (69) = 2.54, p =.013; d = 0.6), reduced internalizing symptoms (CBCL Social problems: t (69) = 3.21, p =.002; d = 0.8) as well as improvements on social skills (SSIS-P Problem behavior: t (68) = 2.55, p =.013; d = 0.6), and quality of life (KidScreen Autonomy and Parents: t (51) = − 2.03, p =.047; d = 0.5) compared to the relaxation control group. The relaxation control group obtained significant differences between the pre- and post-treatment evaluation, diminishing withdraw symptoms (t (32) = 3.03, p =.005; d = 0.2). Results suggest that DAT and relaxation may be promising adjunctive treatments for children and adolescents with FASD. Clinical trial registration information:http://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT04038164. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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