Efficacy of Animal-assisted Therapy in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder and Addictions.

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a complementary intervention of therapy that has shown positive results in the treatment of various pathologies. This study assesses the viability of the implementation and the effectiveness of an AAT program in patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and substance abuse disorder.

Our hypotheses are that participation in the TAA program will reduce negative symptoms, improve the quality of life of people with dual pathology, whose mental illness is schizophrenia, and increase adherence to treatment for people with dual pathology, whose mental disorder it's schizophrenia.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Animal-assisted therapy (AAT; Behavioral: Usual treatment

Detailed Description

Animal assisted therapy (AAT) is a complementary intervention to therapy that presents positive results in the treatment of different pathologies. The study assesses the implementation and effectiveness of a TAA program in patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and substance abuse disorder.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Meeting DSM-5 criteria for substance abuse disorder and the presence of borderline personality disorder.
• Voluntary participant in the study and having signed the informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients whose functioning could be altered by factors not specifically related to addictive pathology or mental disorder (severe cognitive impairment, intellectual deficiency or language barrier)
• Animal-specific phobia

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group (EG); Receive animal-assisted therapy and usual treatment (ATT)	Behavioral: Animal-assisted therapy (AAT; The activity program consists of 10 sessions with a duration of about 60 minutes. During the 10 sessions the animal is presented, in this case a dog. They caress it, dress it, educate it ...; Other Names: ATT
Active Comparator: Control group; Receive usual treatment	Behavioral: Usual treatment; receive usual treatment (group activities)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Life Skills Profile questionnaire (LSP)	This questionnaire evaluates aspects of functioning that affect daily activities and the adaptation of people with mental illnesses in the community. It contains 39 items that are grouped into self-care, social-interpersonal behaviour, communication-social contact, non-personal social behavior and autonomous life	Change from Life Skills at 3-6-9 months (12 minutes)
Barrat impulsiveness scale (BIS-11)	This instrument is composed of 30 items distributed into three sub-scales: nonplanning, motor and attentional. The total impulsiveness score was also obtained	Change from impulsiveness at 3-6-9 months (12 minutes)
Calgary Depresión Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS)	The questionnaire is a structured instrument, administered by a clinician in a hetero-applied way for the adult population, with an approximate administration time of between 10 and 30 minutes, and covers the therapeutic area related to the symptoms of depressive disorders.	Change from Depresión at 3-6-9 months (12 minutes)
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale	The questionnaire consists of 10 statements of the feelings that the person has about himself. Five of the statements are addressed positively (items 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7) and 5 negatively (items 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10).	Change from self-esteem at 3-6-9 months (12 minutes)
Positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS)	It is a semi-structured and hetero-applied questionnaire for the adult population. The application time is between 30-60 minutes and evaluates the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders	Change from Positive and negative symptom at 3-6-9 months (12 minutes)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Miguel Monfort Montolio

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): April 30, 2022
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): April 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Anticipated): April 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 30, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 30, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): November 10, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 10, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 30, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: substance abuse; Borderline personality disorder; Animal-assisted therapy; Dual pathology; Residential treatment
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Personality Disorders; Borderline Personality Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: AAT BPD&A

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No