Assessing a Structured, Goal-Oriented, Animal-Assisted Therapy Program among Youth with Socioemotional Problems: A Pilot Study of Feasibility, Acceptability, and Initial Efficacy

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PROJECT SUMMARY Over the past several years there has been an increase in the use of animal-assisted activities (AAA) and animal-assisted therapies (AAT) aimed at treating youth with social, emotional, and behavioral problems. To date, however, there is limited empirical investigation of whether these programs have additional therapeutic effects beyond the use of traditional therapies. Moreover, many AAA/AAT program are unstructured or use animals as an adjunct to the therapy process. In contrast the Canine Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy curriculum, developed by the Chicago-based Canine-Therapy Corps organization, is an 8- to10-week program of structured, goal-oriented activities focused specifically on dog training. This program has been implemented in several populations of vulnerable youth and adults, including a program that has been in place for over 10 years at Lawrence Hall’s residential Child and Family Treatment Center (CFTC) which provides acute levels of care and a valued placement option when abused and neglected youth need residential treatment to stabilize their behaviors. The CFTC is designed to treat youth with severe emotional behaviors, and the Recovery & Care program is one of several of CFTC’s alternative therapeutic approaches. The goals of this pilot project are to: 1) test for initial efficacy of the Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy program among 36 youth from Lawrence Hall, and 2) test the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term efficacy of expanding the program to a group of 36 youth currently in outpatient treatment for social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Results from this project will provide preliminary evidence of whether a structured, goal- oriented intervention program focused on dog training activities has direct impact on increasing youth emotional self-regulation, impulse control, and self-efficacy, which are important targets for intervention among youth with a wide range mental health problems. If successful, this project could lead to a larger, randomized control clinical trials study that tests the longitudinal impact of the program and could further lead to national dissemination of the Recovery & Care curriculum as an alternative therapeutic approach.