• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.327-335
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• 2021

In this study, we sought to investigate how animal-assisted therapy using therapy dogs affects the relationship between children's self-esteem and age. The subjects of the study were 20 children in the lower grades of elementary school in I City who were recommended by a school social worker and their homeroom teacher, and 10 control groups of 10 experimental groups were selected. From October 1st to December 17th, 2019, the program conducted an animal-mediated treatment program once a week for 50 minutes for 12 sessions. Using SPSS 20.0 for verification, the experimental and control groups were analyzed by performing pre- and post-relationship calm scale measurements of self-esteem and age. As a result, first, the overall self-esteem of the experimental group (Z = -2.75, p<.05), the self-esteem at home (Z = -2.02, p<.05), and the academic self-esteem (Z = -2.06, p<. 05) shows a statistically significant difference. Second, significant differences were shown in overall peer relationships(Z=-3.83, p<.05), scrupulosity(Z=-2.68, p<.05), and empathy(Z=-2.81, p<.05) in the experimental population. Therefore, in this study, it was confirmed that animal-assisted therapy using therapy dogs had a positive effect on the relationship between children's self-esteem and age.