UNASSIGNED: Given the rising interest in complementary therapeutic strategies for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this research aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of animal-assisted activities and therapies (AAAT) on various ASD symptoms.
UNASSIGNED: A meticulous search of databases, including Scopus and PubMed, was conducted to gather relevant research on AAAT for ASD. This process led to the selection of 45 studies encompassing 1,212 participants. The chosen studies were then subjected to a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of AAAT in alleviating core ASD symptoms.
UNASSIGNED: The meta-analysis revealed significant improvements in several core ASD symptoms due to AAAT. Notably, there were improvements in social communication (MD = -4.96, 95% CI [-7.49, -2.44]), irritability (MD = -2.38, 95% CI [-4.06, -0.71]), hyperactivity (MD = -4.03, 95% CI [-6.17, -1.89]), and different word usage skills (MD = 20.48, 95% CI [7.41, 33.55]). However, social awareness (MD = -1.63, 95% CI [-4.07, 0.81]), social cognition (MD = -3.60, 95% CI [-9.36, 2.17]), social mannerisms (MD = -0.73, 95% CI [-2.55, 1.09]), social motivation (MD = -1.21, 95% CI [-2.56, 0.13]), lethargy (MD = -1.12, 95% CI [-3.92, 1.68]), and stereotypical behaviors (MD = -0.23, 95% CI [-1.27, 0.80]) did not significantly improve.
UNASSIGNED: The study demonstrates the potential of AAAT in improving certain core symptoms of ASD, such as social communication, irritability, hyperactivity, and word usage skills. However, the effectiveness of AAAT in other ASD symptom domains remains uncertain. The research is limited by the absence of long-term follow-up data and a high risk of bias in existing studies. Therefore, while the findings indicate the promise of AAAT in specific areas, caution is advised in generalizing its efficacy across all ASD symptoms.

UNASSIGNED: Many individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders experience insufficient symptom relief from currently available treatment options. Researching additional venues should be prioritized. This systematic review, designed in accordance with PRISMA, examined the effect of targeted and structured dog-assisted interventions as a supplementary treatment.
UNASSIGNED: Randomized as well as non-randomized studies were included. Systematic searches were conducted in APA PsycInfo, AMED, CENTRAL, Cinahl, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, and in several sources covering \"gray\" (unpublished) literature. In addition, forward and backward citation searches were performed. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Quality of evidence and risk of bias were assessed in accordance with GRADE and RoB2/ROBINS-I criteria.
UNASSIGNED: 12 publications from 11 different studies met eligibility criteria. Overall, studies showed diverging results. General psychopathology, positive and negative symptoms of psychosis, anxiety, stress, self-esteem, self-determination, lower body strength, social function, and quality of life were among the outcome measures with significant improvement. Most documentation for significant improvement was found for positive symptoms. One study indicated significant deterioration of non-personal social behavior. The risk of bias was high or serious for most of the outcome measures. Three outcome measures were associated with some concerns regarding risk of bias, and three with low risk of bias. Quality of evidence was graded low or very low for all outcome measures.
UNASSIGNED: The included studies indicate potential effects of dog-assisted interventions for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and related disorders, mostly beneficial. Nevertheless, low number of participants, heterogeneity, and risk of bias complicate the interpretation of results. Carefully designed randomized controlled trials are needed to determine causality between interventions and treatment effects.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization Department declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic, as a consequence of its rapid spread on all continents. The COVID-19 pandemic has been not only a health emergency but also a serious general problem as fear of contagion and severe restrictions put economic and social activity on hold in many countries. Considering the close link between human and animal health, COVID-19 might infect wild and companion animals, and spawn dangerous viral mutants that could jump back and pose an ulterior threat to us. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the pandemic, with a particular focus on the clinical manifestations in humans and animals, the different diagnosis methods, the potential transmission risks, and their potential direct impact on the human-animal relationship.

BACKGROUND: Animal-assisted interventions and robotic animal interventions are becoming increasingly popular to support the care of people with dementia and may have the potential to improve a range of psychosocial outcomes. This review aims to identify, describe, and compare animal-assisted and robotic animal interventions delivered to people with dementia, their characteristics, effectiveness, and the proposed mechanisms underlying any potential impact.
METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE, AMED, EMBASE, PsycINFO, OVID Nursing, PubMed, CINAHL and Web of Science. Random-effects meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted to summarise studies that evaluated common outcomes (agitation, depression, quality of life). A narrative approach was used to synthesise other findings.
RESULTS: Fifty-one studies were included: 18 RCTs; 12 non-randomised trials, 13 cohort studies, 7 qualitative studies and one mixed-methods study. Meta-analyses were conducted for a small number of RCTs, with effectiveness of animal-assisted interventions demonstrated for agitation. Narrative findings suggested animal-assisted and robotic animal interventions may be promising in improving depression, agitation, and quality of life. Three potential mechanisms of action were identified for both animal-assisted and robotic animal interventions, namely enhancing social connections, providing engaging and meaningful activities, and the affect-generating aspect of the human-animal bond. A fourth mechanism was identified for animal-assisted interventions only: promoting physical activity. Robotic animals appear to have a place in complex human-animal relationships, but a greater understanding of robotic animal interventions is required to harness the benefits that may be derived from their use.
CONCLUSIONS: Delivering these interventions appear promising in improving psychosocial outcomes for people with dementia. As most included studies had methodological limitations, these findings are preliminary, but contribute to the body of evidence providing an understanding in terms of intervention characteristics and mechanisms of action. When developing intervention guidance, attention should be given to potential mechanisms and fundamental characteristics such as session content, delivery format and facilitator role.

Personal wellbeing is greatly influenced by our childhood and adolescence, and the relationships formed during those phases of our development. The human-dog bond represents a significant relationship that started thousands of years ago. There is a higher prevalence of dog ownership around the world, especially in households including children. This has resulted in a growing number of researchers studying our interactions with dogs and an expanding evidence base from the exploration of child-dog interactions. We review the potential effects of child-dog interactions on the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of both species. A search of the SCOPUS database identified documents published between January 1980 and April 2022. Filtering for key inclusion criteria, duplicate removals, and inspecting the references of these documents for additional sources, we reviewed a total of 393 documents, 88% of which were scientific articles. We were able to define the numerous ways in which children and dogs interact, be it neutral (e.g., sharing a common area), positive (e.g., petting), or negative (e.g., biting). Then, we found evidence for an association between childhood interaction with dogs and an array of benefits such as increased physical activities, a reduction of stress, and the development of empathy. Nonetheless, several detrimental outcomes have also been identified for both humans and dogs. Children are the most at-risk population regarding dog bites and dog-borne zoonoses, which may lead to injuries/illness, a subsequent fear of dogs, or even death. Moreover, pet bereavement is generally inevitable when living with a canine companion and should not be trivialized. With a canine focus, children sometimes take part in caretaking behaviors toward them, such as feeding or going for walks. These represent opportunities for dogs to relieve themselves outside, but also to exercise and socialize. By contrast, a lack of physical activity can lead to the onset of obesity in both dogs and children. Dogs may present greater levels of stress when in the presence of children. Finally, the welfare of assistance, therapy, and free-roaming dogs who may interact with children remains underexplored. Overall, it appears that the benefits of child-dog interactions outweigh the risks for children but not for dogs; determination of the effects on both species, positive as well as negative, still requires further development. We call for longitudinal studies and cross-cultural research in the future to better understand the impact of child-dog interactions. Our review is important for people in and outside of the scientific community, to pediatricians, veterinarians, and current or future dog owners seeking to extend their knowledge, and to inform future research of scientists studying dogs and human-animal interactions.

Dogs are becoming increasingly popular in pedagogical settings. Particularly children with special educational needs are believed to benefit from dog-assisted interventions. However, reliable evidence for supporting such claims is still scarce and reports on the effectiveness of this approach are often anecdotal. With our review we aim at evaluating the literature to answer the question, whether dog-assisted interventions in an educational setting can help children with special educational needs to improve and to develop their emotional, social and cognitive skills. Following the PRISMA Guidelines, the literature was systematically searched for experimental studies until February 2021. Eighteen studies were finally included, which varied greatly in type of intervention, outcomes measured, sample sizes, and scientific quality, which precluded a formal meta-analysis. Hence, we resorted to a narrative synthesis. Overall, the studies report mixed results in the different functional domains of stress reduction, motivation, social skills, cognitive abilities, reading abilities, social conduct, and mental wellbeing. No study reported any negative effects of the intervention. The most unequivocal evidence comes from studies on dogs\' effects on physiological stress response in challenging situations and on motivation and adherence to instructions, reporting significantly lower levels of cortisol in both children and pedagogues in the presence of dogs, as well as increased motivation to learn and participate. Findings for other outcomes, academic or social, however, remain inconclusive. Data on long-term effects are lacking altogether. Still, this review indicates the potentials of dog-assisted interventions in special pedagogy, particularly towards supporting a calm and trustful social atmosphere.

Children with autism typically experience difficulties interacting socially with others when compared to their non-autistic peers. Establishing how effective interventions are for improving social functioning is important to help inform what should be offered to children with autism. This study reviewed how effective interventions that involved interaction with a live animal, known as animal-assisted interventions, are in improving social functioning in children with autism. A systematic search of the evidence on this topic found nine studies, which were explored for the effectiveness of animal-assisted interventions and the quality of methods used. Overall, these studies showed improvements in social functioning following equine-assisted or therapeutic horse-riding interventions, with initial evidence showing improvements are sustained in the short and medium term. However, several issues were identified, which limit the strength of any conclusions that can be drawn from this evidence. For example, in many studies people assessing the children were aware that they received the intervention or were in a control group. There was also not enough evidence available to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of other animal-assisted interventions. Future research should address the limitations that were common in the designs of these studies and investigate the potential benefit of other animal populations, such as dogs and cats.

UNASSIGNED: Animal Assisted Interventions (AAIs) are increasingly common in pediatric care settings as a means to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of hospitalized children and adolescents.
UNASSIGNED: The aim of this work was to review published studies implementing AAIs in hospital settings and to assess the effects of AAIs on the biobehavioral response to stress and pain, social behavior, quality of life and level of satisfaction with hospitalization in children and adolescents. Stress and burden, quality of life, mood and level of satisfaction with hospitalization in parents/caregivers as well as stress and burden, perception of the work environment and job satisfaction in hospital staff were also reviewed.
UNASSIGNED: All published studies reporting quantitative assessments were systematically searched using PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest and Web of Science databases in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. The aim was to identify studies examining the effects of AAIs on behavioral, psychological and physiological responses to stress in children and adolescents (0-18 years) formally admitted to a hospital for a stay, as well as in those undergoing a visit for treatments or medical examinations.
UNASSIGNED: Of the 350 studies screened, 21 were eligible for inclusion. Most of them focused on stress, pain, and anxiety reduction in pediatric patients, and used both physiological parameters and behavioral and psychological observations/scales. All studies employed dogs. Results show the potential of AAIs to reduce anxiety and behavioral distress in pediatric patients while acting on physiological measures associated with arousal.
UNASSIGNED: Although further, more rigorous studies are still needed, the findings of this review may have implications for clinical practices suggesting appropriate planning of AAIs by pediatric healthcare professionals.
UNASSIGNED: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=178993], identifier [CRD42020178993].

Positive relationships, including those between humans and other animals, particularly dogs, may be a way to reduce stress in humans. However, research into this area is relatively new, and a comprehensive review of the impacts of these interactions on humans and dogs has not been conducted. A scoping review of the scientific literature was conducted to explore what is known about the impacts of canine-assisted interventions on molecular biomarkers (e.g., cortisol and oxytocin) and associated measures (e.g., heart rate and blood pressure) of human and canine stress. As reported across 27 identified studies, canine-assisted interventions have consistently been demonstrated to elicit positive changes in human stress markers, and typically do not cause negative impacts on the studied canine stress markers. However, results were inconsistent across measures of stress. For example, in humans, it was common for a study to show improvements to cortisol levels but no change to self-reported stress, or vice versa. Many of the reviewed studies also had significant methodological issues, such as not aligning the timing of sample collections to when the analyzed stress biomarkers could be expected to peak. More rigorous research should be conducted on the impacts of canine-assisted interventions on a wider range of stress biomarkers.

OBJECTIVE: Therapeutic interaction with animals for patients coping with physical and mental health conditions is a growing interest among healthcare providers and researchers. We aimed to comprehensively summarize and evaluate the current state of evidence examining the use of animal-assisted interventions [AAI] for pain relief in healthcare settings.
METHODS: Systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement.
METHODS: Two researchers independently assessed publications dated before February 5, 2021 in OVID Medline, CINAHL, and PsychINFO databases, and used the Delphi list to evaluate the quality of the evidence.
RESULTS: Of the 109 studies screened, a total of 24 studies totaling 1,950 participants were ultimately included. Studies varied in design, including single group trials (8), controlled trials with at least two groups (6), and randomized controlled trials (10). The most common form of pain measurement was the visual or numeric rating scale. For the 18 studies that reported data on changes in pain severity from pre-to-post-test, 13 reported a significant reduction; using the converted common metric we created, these reductions ranged from 0.20 to 3.33 points on a 10-point numeric rating scale.
CONCLUSIONS: AAI may be considered a promising approach in need of further, more rigorous research. Available evidence supporting AAI remains weak due to issues of study quality and design, thereby impeding our ability to draw reliable conclusions on the utility of AAI in relieving pain. Given the rapidly increasing availability of these interventions in hospitals, it is important to better understand its effectiveness.