Canine-assisted Psychotherapy Motivation Alliance (CAP)

Effects of the Inclusion of a Dog in Psychotherapy on Children's Alliance and Treatment Motivation

The aim of the study is to investigate the needed extent and the way a dog is integrated into psychotherapeutic interventions for them to be motivating and alliance building for children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders aged 9 to 17 years old. Specifically, we want to elaborate if the dog needs to be integrated into the therapy in a form that it is part of the therapeutic context or if the presence of the dog without being part of the therapeutic context per se is beneficial.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Motivation; Alliance, Therapeutic
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Standard Psychotherapy; Behavioral: Canine-assisted psychotherapy with dog actively integrated.; Behavioral: Canine-assisted psychotherapy with dog passively integrated.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 150
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Wanda Arnskötter, Msc.; Email: wanda.arnskoetter@unibas.ch
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Karin Hediger, Prof. Dr.; Phone Number: (+41) 61 207 69 58; Email: karin.hediger@unibas.ch

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Basel, Switzerland
    • Recruiting
    • University of Basel
    • Contact: Karin Hediger, Prof. Dr.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 9 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria for children and adolescents: :

• Age between 9 and 17 years
• Children are seeing the therapist for the first time
• Basic knowledge of child and parents in either German or English to be able to fill in questionnaires
• Informed consent given by legal guardian
• Positive or neutral attitude towards dogs

Exclusion Criteria for children and adolescents: :

• acute psychosis; early childhood autism
• diagnosed developmental disorder or intellectual delay; if not diagnosed, exclusion when questionnaires cannot be completed due to development level
• fear of dogs
• allergic reactions to dogs
• reported aggressive behavior towards animals in the past

Inclusion criteria for therapists:

• working with an own therapy dog
• completed therapy training or if not completed far advanced therapy training under supervision
• working with children and adolescents aged 9 to 17 years

Exclusion criteria for therapists:

• not working with an own therapy dog
• no completed or far advanced therapy training
• not working with children and adolescents aged 9 to 17 years

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: No dog present; Conventional psychotherapy with no dog being present.	Behavioral: Standard Psychotherapy; Participants receive a standard psychotherapy session with no dog being present.
Experimental: Dog present and active part of therapeutic narrative.; The dog is actively integrated into the therapeutic narrative.	Behavioral: Canine-assisted psychotherapy with dog actively integrated.; A dog is present and actively integrated into the therapeutic narrative.
Experimental: Dog present but not active part of therapeutic narrative.; The dog is present but not actively integrated into the therapeutic narrative.	Behavioral: Canine-assisted psychotherapy with dog passively integrated.; A dog is present but not actively integrated into the therapeutic narrative.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Therapeutic alliance of patients	Patient's reported therapeutic alliance is measured after the first, the third and the fifth therapy session of a newly began psychotherapy using the german adaptation of the "Therapeutic Alliance Scales for Children" (TASC)". The TASC consists of 12 items, answered with a 4 point likert scale. The questionnaire assesses the therapeutic alliance from the perception of the child. Four weeks after the fifth therapy session children will be asked to fill in the questionnaire again as follow-up measurement.	9 weeks
Motivation of patients	Patient's reported motivation is measured after the first, the third and the fifth therapy session of a newly began psychotherapy using the "Situational Motivation Scale for children (SMS-15)". The SMS-15 consists of 15 items answered with a 7 point likert scale. Four weeks after the fifth therapy session, children will be asked to fill in the questionnaire again as follow-up measurement.	9 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Treatment satisfaction of patients	Treatment satisfaction of children is measured after the fifth therapy session as well as four weeks after as follow up using the "treatment assessment questionnaire (FBB)". The FBB consists of 20 items answered with a 5 point likert scale.	4 weeks
Number of missed sessions	Number of missed sessions and drop-outs will be documented for each child participating in the study.	5 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Basel

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 2, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 18, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): May 20, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 18, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 17, 2024
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2022-00304

Drug and device information, study documents

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