Animal Assisted Therapy After Pediatric Brain Injury

This study is testing if Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) can help children and young adults (ages 4-24) who are recovering from a brain injury. If your child is in inpatient rehabilitation for an acquired brain injury (like from an accident or tumor), they might be able to join. Some participants will have a dog join their physical and occupational therapy sessions, while others will receive standard care. Researchers want to see if having a dog present helps patients participate more in their therapy. The study aims to understand how dogs might improve engagement and who benefits most. The current status of the study is unclear, and it plans to enroll 90 participants.

Study design: This study will involve 90 participants and uses a crossover design, meaning each participant will experience both Animal Assisted Therapy and standard care at different times. It is an interventional study, but the phase is not specified.
What's involved: Participants will have a dog join their physical and occupational therapy sessions on two days during their two-week inpatient stay. On other days, they will receive their usual treatment.
Compensation: Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up: Patient participation and objective engagement will be measured throughout the study completion, which averages two weeks.

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

Animal Assisted Therapy After Pediatric Brain Injury: Mediators and Moderators of Treatment Response.

Recruiting

NAAges 4–24InterventionalTreatment

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

~90 participants

Updated 2025-05-08 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What's tested:Animal Assisted TherapyControl

At a glance

Recruiting sites

1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now

RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open

What they're measuring

Patient Participation/engagement

Measured over throughout study completion - an average of 2 weeks

+1 more outcome measured

Conditions

Brain Injuries

Where it's being run

1 sites across 1 states

Ohio1

Who to contact

Megan Narad, PhD

[email protected]

15138038902

Email the study team

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Do you actually qualify for this trial?

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

Diagnosis: Participants must be admitted to the inpatient rehabilitation unit for treatment of an acquired brain injury (TBI, brain tumor, infection, etc).

Consent: The family must provide informed consent by parents or legal guardians.

Assent: The child/adolescent must provide a signature indicating assent to participate in the study.

Age at the time of screening: 4-21 years old

Sex: includes both males and females

Responsiveness: Rancho score greater than 2 at the time of enrollment (as noted in the medical chart).

Exclusion

Allergies: Patient has a significant allergy to dogs

Fear: Patient has a significant fear of dogs

Disease: Participant is on contact precautions or has a communicable disease that may pose a risk to the dog or dog handler or has a compromised immune system where interacting with the dog and/or handler would be of significant risk to the patient.

Medical History: History of developmental delay prior to ABI.

Behavioral History: Participant or family has a history of animal abuse or cruelty.

Responsiveness: Rancho score of 2 or less

What this trial measures

Patient Participation/engagementthroughout study completion - an average of 2 weeks
Patient engagement/participation will be assessed via the Pittsburgh Rehabilitation Participation Scale (PRPS) is a 6-item Likert-type, clinician-rated measure that quantifies observed patient participation/engagement in their therapy sessions. Therapists will report their observations regarding patient's completion of exercises, effort applied to exercises, and level of support needed to complete activities.
Objective Engagement rating.throughout study completion - an average of 2 weeks
An objective measure of session engagement assessed via behavioral coding of video recorded therapy sessions. Coders will provide an objective measure of engagement by rating the patient in-session engagement based on the PRPS. Behaviors reflective of ratings on the PRPS will be clearly operationalized with anchors for each rating clearly defined.

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