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Effects of Dog-assisted Therapy in Anxiety Symptoms of Female Adolescents With Eating Disorders: A Controlled Trial.

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Title: Effects of Dog-assisted Therapy in Anxiety Symptoms of Female Adolescents With Eating Disorders: A Controlled Trial.
Authors: Núñez, Beatriz Martínez1, Sánchez, Javier Fernández2, Lavín Pérez, Ana Myriam2, Rincón, Luis-Lucio Lobato3,4 lllo-bato@ucm.es, García, Manuel Fonseca5, García, Israel González4, Berna, Montserrat Graell1, Mateo, Daniel Collado2,4
Source: Actas Espanolas de Psiquiatria. 2025, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p1265-1273. 9p.
Subjects: ANIMAL-assisted therapy, EATING disorders, CLINICAL trials, ALTERNATIVE medicine, ANXIETY, PSYCHOLOGICAL factors, TEENAGE girls
Abstract: Background: Eating disorders are a cluster of challenging psychiatric and medical conditions that constitute a major problem in adolescents and young adults. Animalassisted interventions are currently a promising complementary therapy with great development in the hospital field. Methods: The study is a non-randomized clinical trial designed with two groups under assessment. The first group consisted of 15 female patients at a Day Hospital diagnosed with eating disorders who received animal-assisted therapy. The second group had a sample of 15 patients from the same hospital with similar diagnoses and matched characteristics to the intervention group. Anxiety, depression, eating symptoms, grip strength, and health-related quality of life were analyzed both previously and after the intervention. Results: ANOVA results showed a significant between-group reduction in the state anxiety levels (p = 0.011, ηp² = 0.211), with a significant decrease in the intervention group (p = 0.003). Interpersonal distrust (p = 0.042) and fear of maturity (p = 0.012) subscales in the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI2) questionnaire had larger improvement when comparing pre- and post-measures in the intervention group. A similar trend was observed for the rest of the eating symptoms subscales and grip strength in the group treated with the animal-assisted intervention. Conclusion: This study suggests that dog-assisted therapy may be an effective complementary intervention for reducing state anxiety in adolescents with eating disorders. Given the role of anxiety in the maintenance of anorexia nervosa, targeting this symptom could have therapeutic benefits. Additionally, improvements in interpersonal distrust and maturity fears were observed, highlighting the potential impact of animal-assisted therapy on specific psychological factors associated with eating disorders. These findings support the inclusion of dog-assisted interventions as part of multidisciplinary treatment approaches, although further research with larger samples is needed to confirm these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Actas Espanolas de Psiquiatria is the property of Maria Lopez-Ibor and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: MedicLatina
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  Label: Title
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  Data: Effects of Dog-assisted Therapy in Anxiety Symptoms of Female Adolescents With Eating Disorders: A Controlled Trial.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Núñez%2C+Beatriz+Martínez%22">Núñez, Beatriz Martínez</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sánchez%2C+Javier+Fernández%22">Sánchez, Javier Fernández</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lavín+Pérez%2C+Ana+Myriam%22">Lavín Pérez, Ana Myriam</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rincón%2C+Luis-Lucio+Lobato%22">Rincón, Luis-Lucio Lobato</searchLink><relatesTo>3,4</relatesTo><i> lllo-bato@ucm.es</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22García%2C+Manuel+Fonseca%22">García, Manuel Fonseca</searchLink><relatesTo>5</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22García%2C+Israel+González%22">García, Israel González</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Berna%2C+Montserrat+Graell%22">Berna, Montserrat Graell</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Mateo%2C+Daniel+Collado%22">Mateo, Daniel Collado</searchLink><relatesTo>2,4</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Actas+Espanolas+de+Psiquiatria%22">Actas Espanolas de Psiquiatria</searchLink>. 2025, Vol. 53 Issue 6, p1265-1273. 9p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22ANIMAL-assisted+therapy%22">ANIMAL-assisted therapy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22EATING+disorders%22">EATING disorders</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22CLINICAL+trials%22">CLINICAL trials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22ALTERNATIVE+medicine%22">ALTERNATIVE medicine</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22ANXIETY%22">ANXIETY</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22PSYCHOLOGICAL+factors%22">PSYCHOLOGICAL factors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22TEENAGE+girls%22">TEENAGE girls</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Background: Eating disorders are a cluster of challenging psychiatric and medical conditions that constitute a major problem in adolescents and young adults. Animalassisted interventions are currently a promising complementary therapy with great development in the hospital field. Methods: The study is a non-randomized clinical trial designed with two groups under assessment. The first group consisted of 15 female patients at a Day Hospital diagnosed with eating disorders who received animal-assisted therapy. The second group had a sample of 15 patients from the same hospital with similar diagnoses and matched characteristics to the intervention group. Anxiety, depression, eating symptoms, grip strength, and health-related quality of life were analyzed both previously and after the intervention. Results: ANOVA results showed a significant between-group reduction in the state anxiety levels (p = 0.011, ηp² = 0.211), with a significant decrease in the intervention group (p = 0.003). Interpersonal distrust (p = 0.042) and fear of maturity (p = 0.012) subscales in the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI2) questionnaire had larger improvement when comparing pre- and post-measures in the intervention group. A similar trend was observed for the rest of the eating symptoms subscales and grip strength in the group treated with the animal-assisted intervention. Conclusion: This study suggests that dog-assisted therapy may be an effective complementary intervention for reducing state anxiety in adolescents with eating disorders. Given the role of anxiety in the maintenance of anorexia nervosa, targeting this symptom could have therapeutic benefits. Additionally, improvements in interpersonal distrust and maturity fears were observed, highlighting the potential impact of animal-assisted therapy on specific psychological factors associated with eating disorders. These findings support the inclusion of dog-assisted interventions as part of multidisciplinary treatment approaches, although further research with larger samples is needed to confirm these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Actas Espanolas de Psiquiatria is the property of Maria Lopez-Ibor and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.62641/aep.v53i6.1919
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 9
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    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: ANIMAL-assisted therapy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: EATING disorders
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: CLINICAL trials
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      – SubjectFull: ALTERNATIVE medicine
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      – SubjectFull: ANXIETY
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      – SubjectFull: PSYCHOLOGICAL factors
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      – SubjectFull: TEENAGE girls
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              Text: 2025
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