This R21 application will provide a multidisciplinary One Health approach to physical activity intervention for adolescents with developmental disabilities and their family dog. This novel imitation and synchro- nous activity based intervention integrates ?Do As I Do? (DAID) dog training into a joint activity interven- tion for adolescents and their dog, aimed at improving physical activity, quality of life and social wellbeing for children with developmental disabilities. Recent pilot work by Drs. MacDonald & Udell has revealed physical and social-emotional improvements in children with developmental disabilities following an animal assisted intervention. There has been relatively limited research focused on the physical activity of adolescents with developmental disabilities and there remains a critical need to develop strategies that will encourage an active lifestyle for adolescents with developmental disabilities. Animal assisted inter- ventions are growing in popularity, and initial reports suggest significant physical, emotional and social benefits. However there is still a great need for empirical evaluation of these practices. There is also a critical need to develop interventions that have a strong theoretical foundation that targets the specific needs of at risk populations, such as adolescents with DD. To address these needs the investigators of this project have developed the following specific aims:
Aim 1 : To develop and evaluate a novel DAID dog training intervention to promote physical activity in adolecents with developmental disabilities.
Aim 2 : To evaluate the impact of a DAID intervention on the adolectent?s quality of life, feelings of social wellbeing and the child-dog relationship.The long term goal of this research is to improve the lives of adolescents with developmental disabilities. This research supports the One Health initiative and brings together aspects of improving health related to human and animal development.
The proposed research will improve our understanding of a ?one health? approach to physical activity interventions for adolescents with developmental disabilities through the development and evaluation of a novel, imitation-based, intervention with the family dog. This intervention is designed to increase daily physical activity, quality of life and social wellbeing in adolescents with developmental disabilities, even after the program has been completed. This research will improve public health by evaluating new areas of animal assisted intervention aimed at improved developmental trajectories for adolescents with developmental disabilities, directly addressing the research goals of the One Health initiative.
