Effectiveness of animal-assisted services for school-aged children: a systematic review.
Animal-assisted services (AAS) have demonstrated potential benefits for children and adolescents, particularly in emotional development and educational outcomes. However, existing systematic reviews often focused on specific populations or types of animals, and overlook the quality of included studi...
| Publicado en: | European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Vol. 34; no. 10; pp. 3017 - 3034 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
| Formato: | research systematic review tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
Oct2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=189168615&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 189168615 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 10188827 EJ3 jtl: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry issn: 10188827 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2025 vid: 34 iid: 10 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature place: New York, New York artinfo: ui: 189168615 185583943 189168615 189168615 10.1007/s00787-025-02740-7 189168615 ppf: 3017 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Effectiveness of animal-assisted services for school-aged children: a systematic review. aug: au: Moe, Ingyin Ho, Pei Ju Andersson, Maria Karlberg, Sara Lidfors, Lena Sampaio, Filipa Feldman, Inna affil: https://ror.org/048a87296 Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden sug: subj: Pet Therapy In Infancy and Childhood Mental Disorders Diagnosed in Childhood Therapy Child Behavior Evaluation Treatment Outcomes Evaluation Schools Psychosocial Factors Psychological Well-Being Evaluation Cognition Evaluation Human Systematic Review Funding Source Child Development Academic Achievement Medline CINAHL Database Cochrane Library Functional Status Externalizing Behavior Internalizing Behavior Social Behavior Psycinfo Autism Spectrum Disorder Therapy Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Therapy Child, Preschool Child Adolescence Animals Down Syndrome Therapy Dyslexia Therapy Affective Disorders Therapy Reactive Attachment Disorder Therapy Trauma Therapy Communication Self Regulation Motor Skills Sensory Motor Integration Hyperkinesis Empathy Anxiety Psychosocial Factors Stress, Psychological Prevention and Control Self Concept Checklists Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis Software Language Development Learning Skill Acquisition Academic Performance Emotional Regulation Quality of Life Hardiness Child, Preschool: 2-5 years Child: 6-12 years Adolescent: 13-18 years ab: Animal-assisted services (AAS) have demonstrated potential benefits for children and adolescents, particularly in emotional development and educational outcomes. However, existing systematic reviews often focused on specific populations or types of animals, and overlook the quality of included studies. This review evaluates the effectiveness of animal-assisted services on the well-being and behavior of school-aged children, and assesses the risk of bias of the included studies. Following PRISMA Guidelines, a systematic search was conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO via EBSCOhost, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Web of Science, from database inception until August 15, 2023. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 for randomized trials and ROBINS-I for non-randomized studies. Two reviewers (IM, PJH) assessed each record, and two additional reviewers (IF, FS) resolved disagreements. Data were synthesized narratively, and presented in tables and figures. From 2,380 initial articles, 30 met the inclusion criteria. Studies were primarily randomized controlled trials (n = 21), involving various populations, from children with autism spectrum disorders (n = 10) to general population (n = 8). Outcomes were grouped into abilities, attitudes, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, disorder-specific measures, and well-being. AAS showed positive impacts on socio-emotional functioning and behavior despite diverse intervention approaches. Nonetheless, all studies had study design problems, which caused high risk of bias. AAS appears to enhance cognitive, behavioral, and socio-emotional aspects, as well as learning in school-aged children. Further methodologically rigorous research and evidence, such as implementation studies and cost-effectiveness analyses comparing AAS to standard practices are needed to support decision-making. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research systematic review tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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