LH Canine Therapy Study

Evaluating the Impact of a Canine-assisted Therapy Program in Youth Residing in a Residential Treatment Center.

The goal of this pilot project is to test for initial efficacy of the Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy program that has been developed and implemented in youth institutionalized for behavioral and emotional problems. We are using two study sites, Lawrence Hall and Lydia Home, both Chicago-based residential treatment centers for youth with behavioral and emotional problems, many of whom have experienced child maltreatment and trauma. Comparisons will be made to a matched sample of youth from Lawrence Hall and Lydia Home receiving treatment as usual. 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 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 that could further lead to national dissemination of the Recovery & Care curriculum as an alternative therapeutic approach.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Emotion Regulation; Behavioral Disorder; Self Esteem
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy; Other: Treatment as usual

Detailed Description

The study uses a longitudinal, within-person design with two parallel conditions. In one condition, youth receive a 6-week canine therapy intervention. The other condition consists of treatment as usual. The subject population are youth that are in a full-time residential treatment facility in Lawrence Hall and Lydia Home.

The Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy intervention is a 1.25 hour structured curriculum that will occur weekly across a period of 6 weeks. The program will be delivered by the Canine Therapy Corps (CTCorps). Youth will work with CTC-affiliate staff, including trained dog-handler teams, a canine behavior expert, and a clinical supervisor to engage in a series of structured activities progress throughout the intervention. Week 1 is a "meet-and-greet" session where youth are introduced to all dog-handler teams participating in the program and will be asked to select a team to work with for the following sessions. Each youth is assigned their own dog-handler team. Weeks 2 cover activities regarding dog obedience, building from mastering basic commands which the dog already knows (such as "sit," "stay'") to the introduction of "new tricks" that the dog has not yet learned. In Weeks 3, youth will continue to work on mastering the "new tricks" with their dog-handler team and will also begin dog agility training. The agility training session progress in terms of complexity of number and types of obstacles. Week 4 is for proofing all skills (obedience, trick, agility) learned in previous sessions. Week 5 continues proofing all skills and is discussion of the graduation structure and dress rehearsal, and Week 6 is a graduation ceremony where family and friends are invited to observe the progress each youth has made with their dog-handler team. In Weeks 1-5, the goals of each session are outlined at the beginning of the session and brief education is provided regarding the session goals. Weeks 2-5 also include a review of the skills/activities covered in prior weeks. At the end of sessions 1-5, youth are asked to reflect on what they did during the session, including discussion of what they did really well, what they wanted to work on further, and goals for the next session. Research staff will be present during all sessions to record fidelity measures. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale will be administered on-site by research staff at the beginning and end of each intervention session. Change in affect are primary and secondary outcome measures.

Baseline and Follow-up data will be collected up to 1-month before and 1-month after the intervention programs from both the treatment and control groups.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 48
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Kristen Jacobson, PhD; Phone Number: 773-834-0265; Email: kjacobso@bsd.uchicago.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Jennifer A Ponting; Phone Number: 773-702-8669; Email: io-ura@uchicago.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60625
      • Recruiting
      • Lawrence Hall Child & Family Treatment Center
      • Contact: Sean McGinnis, MSW; Phone Number: 773-474-0547; Email: smcginnis@lawrencehall.org
    • Evanston, Illinois, United States, 60202
      • Recruiting
      • Lydia Home
      • Contact: Heidi Flasch; Phone Number: 847-424-5133; Email: hflasch@lydiahome.org

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Youth must be receiving in-patient services at Lawrence Hall or Lydia Home
• Youth must provide informed assent.
• Youth must complete at least one of the primary outcomes during the baseline assessment.
• Youth must remain in residential care for the duration of the 6-week intervention.
• Youth assigned to the Recovery & Care intervention group must attend at least one of the 6 sessions.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Severe cognitive, psychiatric, or physical condition or limitation that would prevent participation.
• Severe animal allergy
• Animal phobia
• History of mistreatment of animals.

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: Active intervention; Half of youth will be assigned to the active Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy intervention arm.	Behavioral: Recovery & Care Canine-Assisted Therapy; Active intervention. An 6-week session of structured, goal-oriented activities where youth focus on mastering dog obedience and dog training skills. Each session is 1 hour and 15 minutes in length and includes education, review of prior sessions, and specific skill-building activities. Skill-building activities progress in complexity during the course of the 6-week curriculum.
Other: Waitlist control; Half of youth will receive treatment as usual.	Other: Treatment as usual; Youth in this condition receive treatment as usual from their health care providers

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Emotional Stroop	Computer-Assisted task assessing affect regulation	Up to 1-month post-intervention
Change in Emotional Stroop	Computer-Assisted task assessing affect regulation	Change from baseline to up to 1-month post-intervention
Flanker Task	Computer-Assisted task assessing attention & inhibitory control	Up to 1-month post-intervention
Change in Flanker Task	Computer-Assisted task assessing attention & inhibitory control	Change from baseline to up to 1-month post-intervention
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale	10-item self-report scale assessing self-esteem. Higher scores are better outcomes	Up to 1-month post-intervention
Change in Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale	10-item self-report scale assessing self-esteem. Higher scores are better outcomes	Change from baseline to up to 1-month post-intervention
Change in Negative Affect	In addition to overall change in outcomes post intervention, we are also interested in whether each intervention session produces an immediate change in youth emotion. We will assess negative affect using 5 self-report items on current mood from positive and negative affect scale. Higher scores are worse outcomes.	Change from the beginning to the end of each of the 6 intervention session

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Attendance and Attrition	Project staff will record the number of absences and drop-outs for youth enrolled in both study intervention conditions.	Aggregated across the 6-week intervention program
Change in Positive Affect	In addition to overall change in outcomes post intervention, we are also interested in whether each intervention session produces an immediate change in youth emotion. We will assess positive affect using 5 self-report items on current mood from positive and negative affect scale. Higher scores are better outcomes.	Change from the beginning to the end of each of the 6 intervention session.
Significant Event Report	Mandated reporting of disruptive behaviors (including offenses, aggression, running away, etc.) and disciplinary actions that occur during the course of the youth's placement at Lawrence Hall.	Aggregated across the 6-week intervention program
Change in Attitudes towards Pets	Pet-Attitudes Survey-Modified (PAS-M) is a validated, reliable 18-item instrument used to assess youth attitudes towards pets. The PAS-M will be used to determine whether the Recovery & Care intervention improves attitudes towards pets and/or whether the intervention is effective for all youth. Higher scores indicate a more positive attitude.	Change from baseline to up to 1-month post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Chicago
• Collaborators: Canine Therapy Corps

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 24, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 21, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 21, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): May 3, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 17, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 15, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB22-1104

Drug and device information, study documents

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