Multi-site Animal Assisted Intervention for Children With DD and Their Family Dog

NCT ID: NCT04799119

Last Updated: 2025-11-18

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

100 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-02-04

Study Completion Date

2026-08-01

Brief Summary

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The study purpose is to evaluate a novel multidisciplinary approach to fostering a therapeutic partnership between the participants with developmental disabilities and the participants family dog. This will culminate in an Animal Assisted Intervention aimed at increasing activity levels, enhancing social support, and increasing feeling of responsibility and wellbeing within this population.

Detailed Description

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The goal of this proposal is to evaluate a large scale novel multidisciplinary approach to fostering atherapeutic partnership between adolescents with developmental disabilities (DD) and the participants family dog. The investigators will evaluate imitative 'Do As I Do' (DAID) training into a unique Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) aimed at increasing activity levels, enhancing social support by promoting a stronger dog-human bond, and increasing feelings of responsibility and wellbeing within this population.

The investigators propose to address the critical need for empirical evaluation of novel theoretically based multi-site animal assisted interventions through the following specific aims.

Specific Aim 1: To evaluate a novel multi-site DAID dog training intervention to promote physical activity in adolescents with developmental disabilities.

Specific Aim 2: To evaluate the impact of a multi-site DAID intervention on the adolescent's quality of life and feelings of social wellbeing.

Specific Aim 3: To evaluate the impact of a multi-site DAID intervention on the child-dog relationship and mutual wellbeing.

Participant Population: Adolescent participants with a developmental disability, between the ages of 10-17 years will be recruited through community-based programs/organizations associated with children with DDs in around our sites. A DD will be confirmed through parent report (e.g., initial recruitment conversations, and documented through the initial demographic questionnaire).

Conditions

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Physical Activity Social Wellbeing

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Randomized control trial experimental/treatment group and control.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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DAID dog training

'Do As I Do' (DAID) dog training employs operant conditioning to train dogs to copy the behavior of their owner upon hearing the verbal cue 'Do it', similar to teaching a dog the rules behind the game 'Simon Says'. Once this rule has been established and generalized, something that can be achieved in dogs by practicing with only 3-6 initially learned behaviors, owners can demonstrate new actions and use the cue 'Do it' to prompt a matched, imitative, behavioral response.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Do As I Do (DAID) dog training

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Children and their family dog will participate in this dog training program.

Control

No intervention (waitlisted and will be provided with the experimental condition post-study completion).

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Do As I Do (DAID) dog training

Children and their family dog will participate in this dog training program.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Age 10-17 years
* Developmental disability (per parental report)
* Possesses family dog
* Participant can follow basis instructions.

Exclusion Criteria

* Cannot follow basic instructions.
* Non english-speakers.
Minimum Eligible Age

10 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

17 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Oregon State University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Megan MacDonald

Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Megan MacDonald

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Oregon State University

Locations

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Oregon State University

Corvallis, Oregon, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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IRB-2020-0816

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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