This clinical trial examined animal-assisted therapy (AAT) as an adjunct to Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for abused youth with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Youth between the ages of 6 and 17 (M = 11.79, SD = 3.08) were randomized to receive standard TF-CBT or TF-CBT with adjunctive AAT (TF-CBT+AAT) employing retired service dogs. Feasibility metrics evaluating the addition of AAT were collected in addition to common clinical outcomes evaluated in TF-CBT trials. The inclusion of AAT increased the number of potential participants who declined participation and there were no noted benefits for treatment retention or satisfaction with services. Analyses showed that the inclusion of AAT did not enhance improvement of PTSD symptom severity (β = .90, t = .94, p = .351) or a number of other outcomes. On the contrary, there were indications from analyses and clinician feedback that AAT may have attenuated improvement in many cases. This study identified a number of important feasibility considerations in the design of studies testing AAT. However, the results examining clinical outcomes suggest that the inclusion of AAT with TF-CBT in the treatment of maltreated youth with PTSD is not warranted at this time.

这项临床试验检查了动物辅助疗法 (AAT) 作为创伤聚焦认知行为疗法 (TF-CBT) 的辅助手段，用于治疗患有创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 的受虐待青年。6 至 17 岁的青少年（M = 11.79，SD = 3.08）随机接受标准 TF-CBT 或 TF-CBT 和辅助 AAT（TF-CBT+AAT），采用退休服务犬。除了在 TF-CBT 试验中评估的常见临床结果外，还收集了评估添加 AAT 的可行性指标。AAT 的加入增加了拒绝参与的潜在参与者的数量，并且没有明显的治疗保留或对服务的满意度的好处。分析表明，加入 AAT 并没有增强 PTSD 症状严重程度的改善（β = .90，t = .94, p = .351) 或许多其他结果。相反，分析和临床医生反馈表明，AAT 在许多情况下可能会减弱改善。这项研究确定了在设计测试 AAT 的研究中的一些重要的可行性考虑。然而，检查临床结果的结果表明，目前没有必要将 AAT 与 TF-CBT 纳入治疗受虐待的 PTSD 青年。