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

NCT ID: NCT01594606

Last Updated: 2015-12-09

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE3
• Total Enrollment: 150 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2012-05-31
• Study Completion Date: 2015-06-30

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.

Conditions

Conduct Disorder; Depression; Anxiety

Keywords

Animal-assisted intervention; adjudicated adolescents; empathy

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Animal-assisted

This group receives the dog training program in which they will be teaching a dog basic obedience skills.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Animal-assisted intervention

Intervention Type: 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.

Dog Walking

This group will walk a different dog each week but will not engage in dog training.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Animal-assisted intervention

Intervention Type: 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.

Interventions

Animal-assisted intervention

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.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

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

Exclusion Criteria

• none

• Minimum Eligible Age: 14 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

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

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Wayne State University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Annmarie Cano

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Annmarie Cano, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Wayne State University

Locations

Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center

Mount Clemens, Michigan, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

R03HD070621

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

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R03HD070621

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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