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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01594606

Randomized Control Trial of an Animal-Assisted Intervention With Adjudicated Youth

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Conduct Disorder Anxiety Anxiety Disorders Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Depression Mental Disorders Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Age range

14 year–17 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 3

Primary location

Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center

Mount Clemens, Michigan, 48043, United States

About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • must be a resident of participating juvenile justice center in Michigan

Exclusion criteria

  • none

Treatment and study plan

animal-assisted intervention

Behavioral

The experimental group will receive 10 weeks of classroom training and hands-on experience working with dogs to teach them basic obedience skills. Each participant will work with the same dog each week. The active control group will receive 10 weeks of classroom training and will walk a different dog each week but will not teach obedience skills to the dogs.

Primary outcomes

  1. 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

  1. Change in empathy toward other people

    Time frame: baseline and 10 weeks

    An observational measure was created for the purposes of this study in which a trained confederate acts as a potential student for the animal-assisted intervention. The confederate will express anxiety about the program and the participants' responses will be coded by trained raters for empathic content.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Wayne State University

Other

Collaborators

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Registry information

Official study title

RCT of an Animal-Assisted Intervention With Adjudicated Youth

Important dates

Study start
2012
Primary completion
2014
Study completion
2015
First posted
May 9, 2012
Registry last updated
Dec 9, 2015

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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