Effects of Dog-assisted Therapy in Anxiety Symptoms of Female Adolescents With Eating Disorders: A Controlled Trial
Abstract
Background: Eating disorders are a cluster of challenging psychiatric and medical conditions that constitute a major problem in adolescents and young adults. Animal-assisted interventions are currently a promising complementary therapy with great development in the hospital field.
Methods: The study is a non-randomized clinical trial designed with two groups under assessment. The first group consisted of 15 female patients at a Day Hospital diagnosed with eating disorders who received animal-assisted therapy. The second group had a sample of 15 patients from the same hospital with similar diagnoses and matched characteristics to the intervention group. Anxiety, depression, eating symptoms, grip strength, and health-related quality of life were analyzed both previously and after the intervention.
Results: ANOVA results showed a significant between-group reduction in the state anxiety levels (p = 0.011, ηp2 = 0.211), with a significant decrease in the intervention group (p = 0.003). Interpersonal distrust (p = 0.042) and fear of maturity (p = 0.012) subscales in the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI2) questionnaire had larger improvement when comparing pre- and post-measures in the intervention group. A similar trend was observed for the rest of the eating symptoms subscales and grip strength in the group treated with the animal-assisted intervention.
Conclusion: This study suggests that dog-assisted therapy may be an effective complementary intervention for reducing state…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a clinical trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 15 participants or records.
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