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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1476522
This article is part of the Research Topic Evidencing the Impact of Human-Animal Interaction for Those Living with Mental Health Problems View all 10 articles

Acute salivary cortisol response in children with ADHD during Animal Assisted Intervention with and without therapy dogs

Provisionally accepted
Sabrina E. Schuck Sabrina E. Schuck 1*Cassie N. Zeiler Cassie N. Zeiler 1Annamarie Stehli Annamarie Stehli 1Lydia A. Steinhoff Lydia A. Steinhoff 1Rachel Y. Stokes Rachel Y. Stokes 1Sara E. Jeffrey Sara E. Jeffrey 1Douglas A. Granger Douglas A. Granger 2,3
  • 1 Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States
  • 2 Pediatrics & Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States
  • 3 School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This brief report describes effects of Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) on acute HPA axis activity in children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) participating in a randomized clinical trial comparing AAI to psychosocial treatment as usual (TAU). Thirty-nine participants (n = 39), aged 7-9 years (79% male) provided saliva at 3 points during 90-minute sessions; (i) upon arrival, (ii) +20 minutes, and (iii) 15 minutes prior to departure, on 3 occasions across an 8-week intervention (weeks 1, 4, and 8). Cortisol slopes calculated within session were compared across the intervention to determine within subject and between group effect sizes. Spearman's correlations between baseline individual symptoms and in-session cortisol responses were evaluated.No significant between group differences were observed at week-1. By week-4, in-session changes in cortisol were evident, with significantly greater decreases in the AAI group (Cohen's d = -.40). This pattern was also observed at week-8, with an even stronger effect-size (d = -0.60). Concurrent symptoms of autism were associated with the in-session acute cortisol response. Specifically, higher parent-reported symptom scores were associated with steeper decreases in cortisol across the session at week 1 (r = -0.42, p < .01) and week-8 (r = -0.34 p = .05). At week-8 this association was stronger in the AAI group (r = -0.53) versus TAU (r = -0.25), with Cohen's q = 0.413) Discussion: AAI may influence HPA activity for children with ADHD. Concurrent symptoms of autism may be related to individual differences in the effect.

    Keywords: ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), Animal assisted interventions, Therapy dogs, Cortisol (Cor), Autism symptomatology

    Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 01 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Schuck, Zeiler, Stehli, Steinhoff, Stokes, Jeffrey and Granger. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sabrina E. Schuck, Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, United States

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