Animal-Assisted Interventions With Dogs in Special Education-A Systematic Review.

ABSTRACT: Dogs are becoming increasingly popular in pedagogical settings. Particularly children with special educational needs are believed to benefit from dog-assisted interventions. However, reliable evidence for supporting such claims is still scarce and reports on the effectiveness of this approach are often anecdotal. With our review we aim at evaluating the literature to answer the question, whether dog-assisted interventions in an educational setting can help children with special educational needs to improve and to develop their emotional, social and cognitive skills. Following the PRISMA Guidelines, the literature was systematically searched for experimental studies until February 2021. Eighteen studies were finally included, which varied greatly in type of intervention, outcomes measured,

SUBMITTER: Meixner J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9197485 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature