Group Changes in Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability of Children with Down Syndrome and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Dog-Assisted Therapy

RE Griffioen; GJM van Boxtel; T Verheggen; MJ Enders-Slegers; S Van Der Steen

doi:10.3390/children10071200

Group Changes in Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability of Children with Down Syndrome and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Dog-Assisted Therapy

RE Griffioen, GJM van Boxtel, T Verheggen, MJ Enders-Slegers^*, S Van Der Steen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Dog-assisted therapy is hypothesized to lower stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with Down syndrome (DS), which may be visible on a physiological level. In this study, we measured heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary cortisol of 20 children with DS or ASD at the beginning and end of six weekly sessions of dog-assisted therapy. We found a decrease of cortisol levels during single sessions, but no overall effect after six sessions (six weeks). The effect of dog-assisted therapy on the increase of HRV could not be confirmed. This study is one of the first to use physiological measurements to test the effects of DAT.

Original language	English
Article number	1200
Number of pages	12
Journal	Children
Volume	10
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/children10071200
Publication status	Published - Jul 2023

Keywords

Animal-assisted interventions
Autism spectrum disorder
Cortisol
Dog-assisted therapy
Down syndrome
HRV
Stress
cortisol
dog-assisted therapy
stress
animal-assisted interventions
autism spectrum disorder

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title = "Group Changes in Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability of Children with Down Syndrome and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Dog-Assisted Therapy",

abstract = "Dog-assisted therapy is hypothesized to lower stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with Down syndrome (DS), which may be visible on a physiological level. In this study, we measured heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary cortisol of 20 children with DS or ASD at the beginning and end of six weekly sessions of dog-assisted therapy. We found a decrease of cortisol levels during single sessions, but no overall effect after six sessions (six weeks). The effect of dog-assisted therapy on the increase of HRV could not be confirmed. This study is one of the first to use physiological measurements to test the effects of DAT.",

keywords = "Animal-assisted interventions, Autism spectrum disorder, Cortisol, Dog-assisted therapy, Down syndrome, HRV, Stress, cortisol, dog-assisted therapy, stress, animal-assisted interventions, autism spectrum disorder",

author = "RE Griffioen and {van Boxtel}, GJM and T Verheggen and MJ Enders-Slegers and {Van Der Steen}, S",

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AU - Verheggen, T

AU - Enders-Slegers, MJ

AU - Van Der Steen, S

PY - 2023/7

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N2 - Dog-assisted therapy is hypothesized to lower stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with Down syndrome (DS), which may be visible on a physiological level. In this study, we measured heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary cortisol of 20 children with DS or ASD at the beginning and end of six weekly sessions of dog-assisted therapy. We found a decrease of cortisol levels during single sessions, but no overall effect after six sessions (six weeks). The effect of dog-assisted therapy on the increase of HRV could not be confirmed. This study is one of the first to use physiological measurements to test the effects of DAT.

AB - Dog-assisted therapy is hypothesized to lower stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with Down syndrome (DS), which may be visible on a physiological level. In this study, we measured heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary cortisol of 20 children with DS or ASD at the beginning and end of six weekly sessions of dog-assisted therapy. We found a decrease of cortisol levels during single sessions, but no overall effect after six sessions (six weeks). The effect of dog-assisted therapy on the increase of HRV could not be confirmed. This study is one of the first to use physiological measurements to test the effects of DAT.

KW - Animal-assisted interventions

KW - Autism spectrum disorder

KW - Cortisol

KW - Dog-assisted therapy

KW - Down syndrome

KW - HRV

KW - Stress

KW - cortisol

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KW - stress

KW - animal-assisted interventions

KW - autism spectrum disorder

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DO - 10.3390/children10071200

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JO - Children

JF - Children

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ER -

Group Changes in Cortisol and Heart Rate Variability of Children with Down Syndrome and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder during Dog-Assisted Therapy

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Keywords

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