Autism Ontario | Looking for Parents to participate in a web-based survey

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Recruitment announcement

Researchers at Carleton University are conducting a web-based survey to investigate the potential benefits of having a companion dog for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families. The survey takes between 30-60 minutes to complete, and is anonymous.

This project has been approved by the Carleton University Ethics Committee for Psychological Research.

We are looking for parents who have a child aged 3-12 years old, diagnosed with Autism or a related Spectrum disorder including Asperger’s syndrome and PDD-NOS. You do not have to have a dog to participate, as we will be comparing the answers of families with dogs and families without dogs.

Complete information about the survey could be found at

http://www.surveymk.com/Autism_Pets_Survey

Synopsis

Families of children with disabilities typically report high levels of stress, and families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders have the highest levels of stress of all (Sanders J & Morgan S, 1997). Positive outcomes in relieving the pressure for these families have been associated with strong social supports manifested through support from friends, support from families with similar problems and support from governmental agencies. Having a pet may also provide social support. Although some researchers have looked at service dogs and their role in therapy, the role of the family dog in families with autistic children has not yet been studied.

Surveys show that dogs are selected as the first choice of pet in most Canadian families. Moreover, 85.8% of the individuals without pets reported that they would like a dog as a pet (Daly & Morton, 2006). Children reported talking and sharing their emotions with their pets as they would do with their siblings (Bryant, 1985). Dogs are also sensitive to people’s body language and can correctly react without being given verbal instructions, making them good companions for autistic children (Soproni, Miklosi, Topal & Csany, 2001).

The purpose of the present project is to compare two groups of families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, one group which currently has a dog as a family pet and one group who does not currently have a dog. We will look at the interactions between the autistic child and the family dog, and also at the role of the dog in the family as a whole. It is predicted that the autistic children in the sample who interact more with the family dog will have better social and language skills and exhibit less severe behavioural problems in public settings. It is also predicted that families with a dog will cope better, feel less stressed and be happier than families without a dog. Because these findings might be confounded by the severity of the child’s disorder, we will attempt to match both groups as per child’s symptoms severity.

For the purpose of this study 40 families of children with autism between three to 12 years old will be recruited in the community. The participants will be separated into two groups, one group of families who currently have a dog and another group of families who do not currently have a dog as a family pet. As well, the families participating in this study will be selected to have only one child with autism and the groups will be balanced regarding the severity of the disorder. Since the Autism Spectrum Disorders affects more boys than girls we expect to have a gender difference in our groups, with more boys than girls in both groups.