Effect of Canine-assisted Therapy on Family Function of Autism Spectrum Disorder / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the effect of canine-assisted therapy on family function of autism spectrum disorder. Methods:The randomized controlled trials (RCT) about the effect of canine-assisted therapy on family function of autism spectrum disorder were retrieved from the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, VIP, and Wanfang Data from establishment to February, 2021. Brief Family Assessment Measure-III-General Scale (FAM-III-GS) was used to access the family function, and Children's Depression Inventory-Second Edition (CDI-2) and Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) were used to access the psychological behavior. The quality of included studies was evaluated according to the method recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration and Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers' manual. RevMan 5.4 software was used for meta-analysis. Results:Finally, four RCTs involving 190 patients were included. There were too less RCTs to do a meta-analysis. Two RCTs showed that the score of FAM-III-GS improved in the experimental group than in the control group. Conclusion:Canine-assisted therapy might improve the family function of patients with autism spectrum disorder.