Improving social participation of children with autism spectrum disorder: Pilot testing of an early animal‐assisted intervention in Spain.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience moderate to profound challenges in relation to the skills required for social participation. Animal‐assisted intervention (AAI) is increasingly used within early community care. However, the results of its early application in this population g...
| Published in: | Health & Social Care in the Community Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 1220 - 1230 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Jul2020
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=143548195&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 143548195 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09660410 EVX jtl: Health & Social Care in the Community issn: 09660410 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jul2020 vid: 28 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 143548195 143548195 145853451 143548195 10.1111/hsc.12955 143548195 ppf: 1220 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Improving social participation of children with autism spectrum disorder: Pilot testing of an early animal‐assisted intervention in Spain. aug: au: Ávila‐Álvarez, Adriana Alonso‐Bidegain, Miguel De‐Rosende‐Celeiro, Iván Vizcaíno‐Cela, Mirian Larrañeta‐Alcalde, Lestonnac Torres‐Tobío, Gabriel affil: Occupational Therapy Research Unit in Non‐Pharmacological Interventions, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain sug: subj: Social Participation In Infancy and Childhood Autism Spectrum Disorder Therapy Pet Therapy Methods Communication Interpersonal Relations Human Pilot Studies Funding Source Service Animals Child Early Intervention Quasi-Experimental Studies Prospective Studies Child, Preschool Adult-Child Relations Spain Male Female Descriptive Statistics Mann-Whitney U Test Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test Post Hoc Analysis Dogs Scales Child: 6-12 years Child, Preschool: 2-5 years Male Female ab: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience moderate to profound challenges in relation to the skills required for social participation. Animal‐assisted intervention (AAI) is increasingly used within early community care. However, the results of its early application in this population group are not known. This pilot study aimed to explore the feasibility of an early intervention based on the use of therapy dogs and to examine their impact on communication and social interaction skills. A within‐subject quasi‐experimental longitudinal design was used. The instruments for measuring results were the Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills (ACIS) and Animal‐assisted Therapy Flow Sheet, both based on observation. A total of 19 children with confirmed or probable ASD (with mean age of 46.2 months), cared for in a Spanish therapeutic unit, participated in a median of nine AAI sessions, with a mean duration of 19.9 min per session. The total ACIS score increased significantly between the initial and final assessments of the study, with communication and social interaction skills improving with a large effect size. In the Animal‐assisted Therapy Flow Sheet instrument, statistically significant improvements were found in most of the items that evaluate the frequency of child–dog social relationships (look at the dog, touch it, talk to it and get involved in an activity with the animal) and child–therapist relationships (look at the therapist and talk to him/her); the effect sizes ranged from medium to large. In conclusion, the early application of an AAI is feasible and seems to improve communication and social interaction skills, both essential elements for social participation. The results suggest that this intervention may be a beneficial non‐pharmacological therapy as a complementary approach within community care for children with ASD in the early years of their life. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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