NCT04171336

Animal-assisted Therapy for Children and Adolescents With Chronic Pain

Completed NA Last updated 18 May 2021

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Animal-assisted therapy in Chronic Pain in 3 participants. Completed in 2 May 2021.

Timeline

5 September 2020

Primary endpoint
10 April 2021

2 May 2021

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	na
Design	single group
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	3
Start date	5 September 2020
Primary completion	10 April 2021
Estimated completion	2 May 2021
Sites	1 location across Switzerland

Drugs / interventions tested

• Animal-assisted therapy

Conditions studied

• Chronic Pain — all drugs for Chronic Pain →

Sponsor

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Who can join

Adults 8 to 16, any sex, with Chronic Pain. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Chronic pain is highly prevalent in children and adolescents, up to one in four children will develop pain that persists or recurs for three or more months. Chronic pain is not only linked to significant psychological, physical, and social concerns for affected children and their families, but also places an enormous burden on healthcare systems - in the United States, chronic pain costs around $19.5 billion dollars each year and ranks among the most expensive pediatric health problems. Chronic pain significantly decreases quality of life and is associated with numerous missing days at school or at work.

Several interventions exist, however, for some, the risk-benefit profile is not favorable, or the effect sizes are small and the clinical effect can be questioned. In general, a multidisciplinary approach that includes medical, psychological, and physiological aspects has been shown to be most promising in the treatment of chronic pain in children and adolescents.

Clinical impressions suggest that an Animal-assisted Therapy (AAT) intervention could be promising, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of an AAT intervention for children and adolescents with chronic pain. With this pragmatic trials investigators aim to investigate the pre- and post-intervention differences in pain levels, levels of emotional distress, and quality of life within participants with chronic pain.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy for Pediatric Chronic Pain: Case Series of an Open Pilot Study to Test Initial Feasibility and Potential Efficacy.
   Locher C, Petignat M, Wagner C, Hediger K, et al · · 2023 · cited 1× · PMID 37273273 · DOI 10.2147/jpr.s394270