1 University of Colorado, USA.
2 Children's Hospital Colorado, USA.
Autism. 2019 Oct;23(7):1740-1751. doi: 10.1177/1362361319827411. Epub 2019 Feb 28.
There is preliminary research suggesting that animal-assisted activities can improve social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder. This pilot study sought to investigate the benefits of animal-assisted activities with dogs and psychiatrically hospitalized youth with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were recruited from a specialized inpatient psychiatric hospital unit for youth with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. Utilizing a crossover design, participants served as their own control by engaging in two 10-min conditions: an experimental dog and handler interaction (animal-assisted activities) and a novel toy and handler control (control). Of the 142 youth aged 6--8 years screened for participation, 47 completed both conditions. Participants' behavioral data were captured via video and coded using the Observation of Human-Animal Interaction for Research, a tool specifically developed to capture human behavioral interactions in the presence of animals. Overall, social-communication behaviors significantly improved in the animal-assisted activities experimental condition compared to the control condition ( = 0.0001). Specifically, participants in the animal-assisted activities experimental condition displayed more positive emotional facial expressions ( ⩽ 0.0001), talking ( = 0.0408), use of gestures ( = 0.032), and looking at both adults and peers ( ⩽ 0.0001). In addition, a higher frequency of constant motion ( = 0.003) was observed in the animal-assisted activities experimental condition. Results suggest that animal-assisted activities with a dog may promote social-communication behaviors in psychiatrically hospitalized youth with autism spectrum disorder. Given the fact that social and communication behaviors can facilitate treatment engagement for this population, we recommend future studies examine how such improvements can positively affect the psychiatric treatment of this population.
有初步研究表明，动物辅助活动可以改善自闭症谱系障碍儿童的社交互动。本试点研究旨在调查动物辅助活动对患有自闭症谱系障碍和其他发育障碍的住院精神病青少年的益处。参与者是从一家专门的自闭症青少年住院精神病院招募的，该医院还为其他发育障碍患者提供服务。研究采用交叉设计，参与者通过参与两种 10 分钟的条件来充当自己的对照：一种是实验性的狗和 handler 互动（动物辅助活动），另一种是新的玩具和 handler 控制（对照）。在筛选出的 142 名年龄在 6-8 岁之间的有资格参与的青少年中，有 47 名完成了这两种条件。参与者的行为数据通过视频记录，并使用人类与动物互动观察工具进行编码，这是一种专门用于捕捉动物存在时人类行为互动的工具。总体而言，与对照条件相比，动物辅助活动实验组的社交沟通行为有显著改善（ = 0.0001）。具体而言，动物辅助活动实验组的参与者表现出更多积极的情绪面部表情（ ⩽ 0.0001）、更多的说话（ = 0.0408）、更多的手势使用（ = 0.032）以及更多地看向成人和同龄人（ ⩽ 0.0001）。此外，在动物辅助活动实验组中观察到更高频率的持续运动（ = 0.003）。结果表明，与狗一起进行动物辅助活动可能会促进住院精神病青少年的社交沟通行为。鉴于社交和沟通行为可以促进这一人群的治疗参与，我们建议未来的研究探讨这些改善如何对这一人群的精神科治疗产生积极影响。
