NCT06025539

Animal-assisted Resilience Training for Children With Stressful Life Events or Autism Spectrum Disorder

Effects of an Animal-assisted Resilience Training for Children With a History of Stressful Life Events or a Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 83 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 2 Years – 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the effects of an animal-assisted resilience training in children who experienced stressful life events or who have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. The main question it aims to answer is: • Is an animal-assisted resilience training a feasible approach to increase resilience in children with a history of stressful life events or a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder? Participants will take part in 12 training sessions of a standardized resilience training. The training is group-based, takes place outdoors, and includes interactions with different animals. It focuses on self-esteem, self-perception, dealing with emotions, and social competence.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Life Change Events

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Animal-assisted resilience training	Participants take part in 12 sessions (120 minutes each), each session focuses on a topic that is related to resilience. The intervention takes part outdoors on a farm, and includes interactions with several different animals. The training takes place in small groups, and includes exercises, observations, and discussions.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-08-10
• Primary completion: 2025-12-31
• Completion: 2025-12-31
• First posted: 2023-09-06
• Last updated: 2025-11-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland