Human-Animal Interactions, ADHD: Self-Esteem, Self-Regulation and Social Skills

描述(由申请人提供)：注意力缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)是一种常见的复杂障碍，对儿童在学校和家庭功能以及正常的童年社会化过程中产生不利影响。令人惊讶的是，患有ADHD的儿童往往具有自我调节、自尊和社交行为不佳的特点。尽管文献中充斥着动物如何促进儿童身心健康的例子，但缺乏研究人与动物相互作用(HAI)的良好控制的随机临床试验。许多研究人员和学者指出，尽管利用动物可能非常有吸引力，但患者喜欢与动物互动的事实并不能证明它作为一种治疗程序的有效性。在治疗和心理教育环境中对HAI进行对照研究可能有助于揭开其作为范例的使用的神秘面纱，同时为在ADHD儿童群体中制定最佳实践指南迈出第一步，ADHD儿童群体是儿童最常见的精神诊断。这项建议的目的是调查HAI在促进被诊断为ADHD的学龄儿童的心理和情感健康方面的作用。目前诊断为ADHD的7至9岁儿童(N=108)将被纳入研究，并将被随机分成两种治疗条件之一：社交技能训练结合HAI与小狗(n=54)，社交技能训练结合HAI Sham与填充动物小狗(n=54)。此外，来自这些组的大约相同数量的受试者将被列为控制条件(n=54)，等待12周。我们将在加州大学儿童发展中心的心理教育和治疗学校环境中对6个队列的参与者进行研究，并将使用高度结构化的实验室学校协议来衡量结果，以标准化和收集课堂表现以及注意力、举止和幸福感的评级，在12周后的基线，并在6周后再次评估潜在的效果维持。这项研究将为未来研究HAI对患有ADHD和破坏性行为障碍的儿童和青少年的影响奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common, complex disorder that adversely affects a child in school and family functioning and normal childhood socialization processes. It is striking that children with ADHD are often characterized by poor self-regulation, self-esteem, and social behaviors. Although the literature is filled with examples of how animals can promote human physical and emotional wellness in children, there is a lack of well-controlled, randomized clinical trials studying Human- Animal Interactions (HAI). Many researchers and scholars note that although the utilization of animals may be highly appealing, the fact that a patient enjoyed the interaction with an animal does not substantiate its efficacy as a therapeutic procedure. Conducting a controlled study of HAI in a therapeutic, psychoeducational setting may serve to demystify its use as a paradigm while providing a first step towards developing best practice guidelines within a well characterized, behaviorally disturbed population of children with ADHD, the most common psychiatric diagnosis of childhood. The goal of this proposal is to investigate the role of HAI in promoting mental and emotional well-being in school-aged children diagnosed with ADHD. Children between the ages of 7 to 9 years with a current diagnosis of ADHD (N=108) will be recruited into the study and will be randomized into one of two treatment conditions: Social Skills Training in combination with HAI with puppies (n=54), and Social Skills Training in combination with HAI Sham with stuffed animal puppies (n=54). In addition, approximately equal numbers of subjects from these groups will be wait listed for 12 weeks as a control condition (n=54). We will study participants in 6 cohorts in the psychoeducational, therapeutic school setting of the University of California, Child Development Center and will measure outcomes using the highly structured laboratory school protocol for standardization and collection of classroom performance and ratings of attention, deportment and well being at baseline, after the 12-week period, and again at 6 weeks later to assess potential maintenance of effects. This study will set the stage for future investigations on the effects of HAI in children and adolescents with ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders.