Effects of a Dog-Assisted Social- and Emotional-Competence Training for Prisoners: A Controlled Study

Karin Hediger (), Rahel Marti, Vivien Urfer, Armin Schenk, Verena Gutwein and Christine Dörr
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Karin Hediger: Division of Clinical Psychology and Animal-Assisted Interventions, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Rahel Marti: Division of Clinical Psychology and Animal-Assisted Interventions, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Vivien Urfer: Division of Clinical Psychology and Animal-Assisted Interventions, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Armin Schenk: Division of Clinical Psychology and Animal-Assisted Interventions, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Verena Gutwein: Pet-Agogik, Lärchenweg 12, 68804 Altlussheim, Germany
Christine Dörr: Department of Corrections Bruchsal, Schönbornstrasse 32, 76646 Bruchsal, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: Background: Previous research has called for improving psychological interventions and developing new treatments for prisoners. Animal-assisted prison-based programmes have increasingly been used as an approach, but there is a lack of studies investigating the effectiveness of such programmes. Objective: To investigate the effects of a dog-assisted social- and emotional-competence training on the socioemotional competences of prisoners compared to treatment as usual. Methods: In a controlled trial, we investigated 62 prisoners that participated in either a 6-month dog-assisted psychotherapeutic programme or the standard treatment. We assessed social and emotional competences before and after the training and at a 4-month follow-up. Data were analysed with linear models. Results: The prisoners’ self-assessed social and emotional competences did not differ. The psychotherapists rated the prisoners’ emotional competences in the intervention group higher at the follow-up but not after the training. The psychotherapists did not rate the prisoners’ social competences in the intervention group differently but did find them to have higher self-regulation at follow-up and lower aggressiveness after the training than the control group. Conclusions: This study indicates that dog-assisted programmes with a therapeutic aim might be beneficial for prisoners. However, the inconsistent results indicate that more research is needed to determine the potential and limits of animal-assisted programmes in forensic settings.

Keywords: animal-assisted intervention; prison; social competence; emotional competence; dog (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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