Development and Evaluation CAT and Youth (CAT)

The Development and Evaluation of a Novel Cat Assisted Training (CAT) Intervention for Youth With Developmental Disabilities and Their Family Cat

This R21 provides a multidisciplinary One Health approach to developing and evaluating a novel Cat Assisted Training (CAT) animal assisted intervention (AAI) for early adolescents with developmental disabilities (DD) and their family cat. Cat social behavior and welfare is heavily influenced by human behavior and training, making it highly likely that cats would also benefit from this program. There remains a critical need for further empirical evaluation of AAI practices, especially those that target the specific needs of youth with disabilities. Further extending the development and evaluation of activity-based AAIs beyond those that include dogs and horses also helps address the critical need to consider and include diverse human participants, creating new equitable opportunities for AAI involvement to those who may have access to cats, but not dogs and horses (due to practical, health, cultural, socio-economic, or other personal reasons).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Control Group; CAT Intervention Group
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: CAT Intervention Group

Detailed Description

This R21 provides a multidisciplinary One Health approach to developing and evaluating a novel Cat Assisted Training (CAT) animal assisted intervention (AAI) for early adolescents with developmental disabilities (DD) and their family cat. The novel CAT intervention will be a 6-week cat walking and training program for youth 8 - 17 years old. Participants will learn how to respond appropriately to cat body language, practice fear-free and positive reinforcement-based handling, and training skills, and how to fit a harness and walk their cats on leash. For the human participants, skills and behaviors learned during the intervention are expected to promote and support long-term physical activity, social wellbeing, and lasting feelings of responsibility even after the intervention itself has concluded. We also expect these experiences to improve the relationship between the child participant and household cat, and in turn, reduce cat stress in the child's presence and increase cat sociability and indicators of behavioral wellbeing. Because each child will participate with a cat already living in their household, this program will create a unique active partnership between child and cat that considers the health and wellbeing of both partners. Recent pilot work by PIs Udell & MacDonald has revealed physical and social-emotional improvements in children with and without developmental disabilities following a pet dog-partner based AAI. Dogs also showed increased sociability and attachment towards their child partner after AAI participation. Work by PI Udell & Vitale has demonstrated that many cats are highly social and form strong attachment bonds with humans, that cats can be successfully trained a wide range of behaviors, including leash walking, and that cat training classes result in high participant retention rates. Cat social behavior and welfare is also heavily influenced by human behavior and training, making it highly likely that cats would also benefit from this program. There remains a critical need for further empirical evaluation of AAI practices, especially those that target the specific needs of at-risk populations and youth. Further extending the development and evaluation of activity-based AAIs beyond those that include dogs and horses also helps address the critical need to consider and include diverse human participants, creating new equitable opportunities for AAI involvement to those who may have access to cats, but not dogs and horses (due to practical, health, cultural, socio-economic, or other personal reasons).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 36
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oregon
    • Corvallis, Oregon, United States, 97331
      • Oregon State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Child with a developmental disability per parental report.
• Family owns a family cat.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Can not follow instructions.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CAT Intervention Group; The experimental group will take part in the CAT intervention (Table 1) after baseline assessments. All cat-training methods will be positive reinforcement based, using owner-approved food, toys and social reinforcers (e.g. petting).	Behavioral: CAT Intervention Group; The experimental group will take part in the CAT intervention after baseline assessments. All cat-training methods will be positive reinforcement based, using owner-approved food, toys and social reinforcers (e.g. petting).
No Intervention: CAT Control Group; Control participants will not participate in the CAT intervention. After the completion of the third assessment (end of proposal-related data collection), control participants will be offered the opportunity to participate in cat training classes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants Whose Cats Changed From Insecure to Secure Attachment Classification From T1 to T3	Cats in the intervention group participated in a structured three-phase assessment: two minutes in the testing room with their child owner, two minutes alone, and then a reunion phase when the child returns. All sessions were video recorded. Two independent raters classified each cat's attachment style using a predefined behavioral ethogram, with primary emphasis on the cat's response during the reunion. Possible attachment classifications include Secure, Insecure-Ambivalent, Insecure-Avoidant, Insecure-Disorganized. Data presented describe within-cat change in attachment classification from T1 to T3, specifically the shift from insecure (inclusive of ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized) to secure attachment.	T3 is approximately 14 months after T1 (baseline).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants Who Participated in Walking Their Cat at T2	The Cat Care Responsibility Inventory "Walk" variable reflected responses to the item, "Usually walks cat." Children indicated the household member for whom this statement was most true (e.g., self, mother, father, sibling, or other). For analysis, responses were coded as a binary variable such that s child either participated in walking the cat (alone or with others in the household) or did not. These binary outcomes were then compared across time points and participant groups.	T2 is approximately 6 weeks after T1 (baseline).

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
NIH Toolbox Emotional Support (Ages 8-17) Fixed Form: Uncorrected Standard T-score at T2	Participants completed a 7-item Emotional Support survey from the NIH Toolbox (NIH Toolbox Item Bank v2.0), validated for children ages 8-17. The survey uses a five-point Likert scale (Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Usually, Always) to assess children's experiences of emotional support during the past month. Items ask about perceived access to supportive relationships over the preceding month. Sample question: "I have someone who will listen to me when I need to talk." Scoring Process: Each survey is scored using Item Response Theory (IRT). An IRT-derived theta score is generated for each participant, as is an Uncorrected Standard Score (T-score). Interpretation: For the NIH Toolbox Emotional Support Survey, higher scores are indicative of more emotional support. Scores 1 SD or more below the mean (T ≤ 40) suggest low levels of support, and scores 1 SD or more above the mean (T ≥ 60) suggest high levels of support. T-scores ≤ 40 may warrant heightened surveillance or concern.	T2 is approximately 6 weeks after T1 (baseline).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oregon State University
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 30, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 29, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): August 21, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 11, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 11, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): July 18, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2026
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HE-2022-29; 1R21HD109853-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); 5R21HD109853-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: The proposed research will involve a small sample (target N = 30 participants) of youth with DD within a narrow age range recruited from Corvallis and the surrounding counties/ communities. Participants must also have a pet cat to participate in this study. Even with the removal of all identifiers, we believe that it would be difficult to protect the identities of subjects given the small region of recruitment and possible identifying characteristics of subjects and their family cats. Given that some participants may exhibit anxiety, depression or other behavioral and emotional disorders we plan to take every measure to ensure their identify is protected. Therefore, we are not planning to share non-aggregate data.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No