The Benefits of Dog-Assisted Therapy as Complementary Treatment in a Children’s Mental Health Day Hospital

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Animal-assisted therapy is a rehabilitation and treatment procedure that uses trained animals to help people cope with difficult situations in addition to other therapeutic interventions. The most commonly used animals are dogs and horses. The current study analyzes the benefits of dog-assisted therapy in a pediatric population attending a mental health day hospital. This program was associated with positive impacts on factors including reduced emotional and behavioral outbursts and improved socialization behavior observed by therapists in the day hospital setting. Whereas the parents did not observe significant improvements outside the unit. Attendance rate and commitment to treatment also improved. According to the impressions of the health professionals, the dog-assisted therapy facilitated the motivation of the patients to therapy and improved the atmosphere of the unit. Dog-assisted therapy is a promising intervention that benefits children with mental health disorders, their families and mental health professionals. Its implementation is necessary as a complementary program of the treatment at a psychiatric day hospital. ABSTRACT: Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) has shown benefits in people with mental health disorders. A child psychiatric day hospital would be a suitable setting to implement DAT and evaluate the benefits in a pediatric population. Methods: Mixed methods research in a naturalistic setting was considered in this pre-post quantitative study including 23 children under 13 treated in a day hospital over 2 years. Quantitative analysis included the number of emotional and behavioral outbursts and attendance rate and self-control and social impairment questionnaires completed by family members and therapists. In the qualitative study, the experiences of 12 mental health professionals involved in DAT were documented through semi-structured interviews. Results: On DAT days, there were fewer emotional and behavioral outbursts and higher attendance. Significant differences were obtained between pre- and post-test scores on the SCRS and the SRS-2 completed by the therapists, while no significant differences were obtained on the questionnaires completed by the parents. Observations based on the qualitative study were as follows: (1) DAT improves emotional self-regulation; (2) DAT could facilitate the work of therapists in day hospitals; (3) health professionals displayed uncertainty due to a lack of familiarity with DAT. Conclusions: DAT improved emotional self-regulation, attendance rate and self-control and social response in children with mental disorders attending a day hospital.