Animal-Assisted interventions for school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis

Dimolareva, M. and Dunn, T.J. (2020) Animal-Assisted interventions for school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. ISSN 1573-3432

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Abstract

Research has indicated beneficial effects of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs) for children with Autism. However, there is a dearth of meta-analyses and the findings are often contradictory. The current meta-analysis assesses the effectiveness of AAIs on social interaction, communication and global Autism symptoms. A total of 1447 studies were returned, of which 16 (n = 489) met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analyses indicated small effect sizes related to improvements in social interaction and communication and reduction in ASD symptoms. Additionally, there was little evidence for a relationship between dosage and effect size. In conclusion, AAIs appears to offer small improvements in social interaction and communication for children with Autism, which may be comparable to activities used in active control conditions

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2020 Springer. This is an author accepted manuscript of a paper subsequently published in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Divisions: School of Social Science
Depositing User: Dr Thomas Dunn
Date Deposited: 22 Sep 2020 08:37
Last Modified: 29 Sep 2021 02:40
URI: https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/771

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