AUTHOR=Vidal Raquel , Vidal Laura , Ristol Francesc , Domènec Eva , Segú Marta , Vico Cristina , Gomez-Barros Núria , Ramos-Quiroga Josep Antoni 

TITLE=Dog-Assisted Therapy for Children and Adolescents With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders a Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01080

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01080

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Objective: The rationale of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Dog Assisted Therapy (DAT) in children and adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Method: We conducted a randomized, rater-blinded, controlled pilot trial in a cohort of 33 children and adolescents with FASD. Participants were randomly assigned either to DAT group (n=17) or Treatment as Usual (TAU control group) (n=16).
Results: Of the initial 39 participants enrolled, 33 completed treatment. A mixed-effects model analysis revealed that participants who were assigned to the DAT group experienced significantly improvements on social skills (SSIS-P Social Skills: p=0.02, d=0.8), reductions on externalizing symptoms (CBCL Externalizing: p=0.03; d=0.56), and lower scores on FASD severity (CGI-S Clinician: p=0.001, d=0.5). 
Conclusions: DAT is a promising adjunctive treatment for children and adolescents with FASD.