ABSTRACT In the past few decades, interventions that involve animals have gained support among therapists, as they encourage verbal and non-verbal expressions of emotions. Our aim was to examine the impact of a dog-training intervention on the empathic skills of at-risk youth, compared with an intervention using empowerment groups. We hypothesized that participants in the dog-training group would report improved empathic abilities, compared with those in the comparison group. A prospective study was conducted, with a final sample of 55 at-risk youth: 30 in the dog-training group and 25 in the empowerment-based group (n = 25). Empathic skills were measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which consists of four subscales: fantasy abilities, perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress. We found a significant improvement in the empathic concern subscale only among participants in the dog-training group (F(1,53) = 16.6, p < 0.01). This is discussed, along with limitations of the research and possible avenues for future research.

中文翻译：

---

训犬干预对高危青少年的影响

摘要 在过去的几十年里，涉及动物的干预措施得到了治疗师的支持，因为它们鼓励语言和非语言的情绪表达。我们的目的是与使用授权小组的干预相比，检查狗训练干预对处于危险中的青少年的同理心技能的影响。我们假设与对照组相比，狗训练组的参与者会报告共情能力有所提高。进行了一项前瞻性研究，最终样本包括 55 名有风险的青年：30 名在训犬组中，25 名在授权组中（n = 25）。共情技能是使用人际反应指数衡量的，该指数由四个分量表组成：幻想能力、观点采择、同理心关注和个人痛苦。我们发现仅在训练犬组的参与者中，共情关注分量表有显着改善（F（1,53）= 16.6，p < 0.01）。讨论了这一点，以及研究的局限性和未来研究的可能途径。