Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

Abstract In this meta-analysis, we examine the efficacy of animal-assisted psychotherapy (AAP) on mental disorders. Twenty-eight studies quantitatively assessed the treatment effects of AAP. We used a random effects model to aggregate each study into an overall effect size. We found a large effect for pre- versus post-intervention comparisons and a moderate effect for the treatment versus control comparison for all disorders. Most of the moderator analyses were non-significant. We used the Grade measure (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) to assess the quality of the studies included in this paper. The results of the Grade analyses indicated a score of very low quality on the assessment. Therefore, only tentative conclusions about the efficacy of AAP can be drawn. The results suggest that AAP is a potentially efficacious treatment for mental disorders; however, significant limitations temper this conclusion.