Effects of animal-assisted psychotherapy incorporating mindfulness and self-compassion in neurorehabilitation: A randomized controlled feasibility trial

The presented study evaluates a psychotherapeutic mindfulness- and self-compassion-based group intervention (MSCBI) with and without animal-assistance for patients with acquired brain injury and was designed as a randomized controlled trial conducted at a neurorehabilitation clinic in Switzerland (REHAB Basel). Both groups had access to treatment as usual and were followed-up until four weeks after completing the intervention. For the primary outcome, patients completed self-report questionnaires at baseline (t1; week 0), post-treatment (t2; week 7), and follow-up-treatment (t3; week 11). For the secondary outcome, patients completed self-report questionnaires regarding their emotional states before and after each session. Acceptability was measured via adherence to treatment, operationalized by the number of attended sessions. The attrition-rate was operationalized by the number of dropouts, assessed for each group separately.