NCT05384808

Canine-assisted Psychotherapy Motivation Alliance

Effects of the Inclusion of a Dog in Psychotherapy on Children's Alliance and Treatment Motivation

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 150 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Basel · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 9 Years – 17 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The aim of the study is to investigate the needed extent and the way a dog is integrated into psychotherapeutic interventions for them to be motivating and alliance building for children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders aged 9 to 17 years old. Specifically, we want to elaborate if the dog needs to be integrated into the therapy in a form that it is part of the therapeutic context or if the presence of the dog without being part of the therapeutic context per se is beneficial.

Conditions

• Motivation
• Alliance, Therapeutic

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Standard Psychotherapy	Participants receive a standard psychotherapy session with no dog being present.
BEHAVIORAL	Canine-assisted psychotherapy with dog actively integrated.	A dog is present and actively integrated into the therapeutic narrative.
BEHAVIORAL	Canine-assisted psychotherapy with dog passively integrated.	A dog is present but not actively integrated into the therapeutic narrative.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-06-01
• Primary completion: 2025-03-31
• Completion: 2028-12-31
• First posted: 2022-05-20
• Last updated: 2024-07-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland