Bibliography - Assistance Dogs
Collection 3
Are we missing something? Please email Tiamat Warda with article suggestions at [email protected].
15 Health of Assistance Dogs
16 Welfare of Assistance Dogs
17 History of Assistance Dogs
This article scrutinises issues around disability and dependent (interdependent) agency, extending these to non-human animals and service dogs, with a sustained reference to the training of guide dogs. It does this through a detailed engagement with the training methodology and philosophy of The Seeing Eye guide dog school in the 1930s, exploring the physical, bodily and instrumental means through which the guide dog partnership, and the identity of the instructor, the guide dog and the guide dog owner, jointly came into being. The novelty of the article lies in how it reconsiders what interdependence meant and means from the perspectives drawing from historical and sociological literature on dog training. In doing so it opens up new ways of thinking about service animals that recognise their historical contingency and the complex processes at work in the creation and development of interdependent agency.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made.
18 Benefits of Assistance Dogs Concept
Purpose: This cross-sectional study examined whether partnering with service dogs influenced psychosocial well-being and community participation of adult individuals using wheelchairs or scooters.
Method: One hundred and fifty-two people were recruited and group-matched, resulting in 76 participants with and 76 without service dogs. Standardized scale scores for affect, depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and loneliness were used to operationally define psychosocial well-being. Community participation was assessed with the ‘Social Integration’ domain of the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique.
Results: Psychosocial characteristics did not differ significantly between those partnered with and without service dogs overall. However, of participants with progressive conditions, those with service dogs demonstrated significantly higher positive affect scores than comparison group participants. Among those with clinical depression, service dog partners scored significantly higher in positive affect. Finally, regardless of whether individuals had service dogs, fewer depressive symptoms and being female or married were predictors of greater community participation.
Conclusion: Select individuals may experience psychosocial benefits from partnering with service dogs. However, it is unclear if these benefits might also be derived from companion dogs. Further research is needed to substantiate the findings of this study.
Objective
To compare the mechanical and muscular efforts generated in the non-dominant upper limb (U/L) when ascending a ramp with and without the use of a mobility assistance dog (ADMob) in a manual wheelchair user with a spinal cord injury.
Method
The participant ascended a ramp at natural speed using his personal wheelchair with (three trials) and without (three trials) his ADMob. Movement parameters of the wheelchair, head, trunk, and non-dominant U/L (i.e. hand, forearm, and arm segments) were recorded with a motion analysis system. The orthogonal force components applied on the hand rims by the U/Ls were computed with instrumented wheels. Muscular activity data of the clavicular fibers of the pectoralis major, the anterior fibers of the deltoid, the long head of the biceps brachii, and the long head of the triceps brachii were collected at the non-dominant U/L.
Results
During uphill propulsion with the ADMob, the total and tangential forces applied at the non-dominant handrim, along with the rate of rise of force, were reduced while mechanical efficiency was improved compared to uphill propulsion without the ADMob. Similarly, the resultant net joint movements (wrist, elbow, and shoulder) and the relative muscular demands (biceps, triceps, anterior deltoid, pectoralis major) decreased during uphill propulsion with an ADMob versus without an ADMob.
Conclusion
Propelling uphill with the assistance of an ADMob reduces U/L efforts and improves efficiency compared to propelling uphill without its assistance in a manual wheelchair user with a spinal cord injury.
Purpose: Companion dogs can provide psychosocial benefits for their owners. Assistance dogs reportedly provide similar benefits, while also performing specific tasks. These psychosocial benefits may increase their handler’s quality of life and ability to thrive – defined as having the ability to grow and flourish, especially in the face of adversity. Currently, no studies compare assistance dogs’ effectiveness to companion dogs’ in assisting their handler/owner to thrive, an important comparison given that companion dogs are typically less expensive to acquire, and more readily available.
Methods: The Thriving Through Relationships (TTR) theory was used to inform the development of a human-dog relationship survey, which was distributed through assistance dog organizations and to the general public.
Results: Participants were divided into three groups: persons with a disability who had an assistance dog (n = 165), persons with a disability who had a companion dog (n = 249) and persons with no disability who had a companion dog (n = 198). Perceived overall support was statistically different between the three groups, F (2, 394) = 14.45, p < .001. Assistance dog handlers reported receiving significantly higher levels of support than companion dog owners with disabilities (p < .01) or without disabilities (p < .001). In fact, assistance dogs were reported to provide more support (p < .017) than companion dogs on nine out of ten separate indicators of thriving.
Conclusion: Overall, dogs are perceived to provide support that improves their handler/owner’s ability to thrive. Most importantly, however, assistance dogs may provide greater support than companion dogs for persons with a disability and, therefore, may be worth the additional time and financial cost.
- Implications for Rehabilitation
Assistance dogs could assist rehabilitation by improving coping skills, especially during times of adversity, as demonstrated through the ten indicators of thriving.
Assistance dogs and companion dogs are not inter-changeable when it comes to providing support for individuals with a disability.
Background
Quality of life refers to a person’s experienced standard of health, comfort and happiness and is typically measured using subjective self-report scales. Despite increasing scientific interest in the value of dogs to human health and the growing demand for trained service dogs, to date no research has reported how service dogs may affect client perceptions of quality of life.
Method
We compared quality of life scores on the 16 item Flanagan quality of life scale from individuals who owned a trained service dog with those who were eligible to receive a dog, but did not yet have one (waiting list control). Data were analysed separately from two groups; those with a service dog trained for individuals with physical disabilities (with physical service dog: n = 72; waiting for a service dog: n = 24; recruited from Dogs for Good database) and those with a hearing service dog (with hearing service dog = 111; waiting for a service dog = 30; recruited from Hearing Dogs for Deaf People database).
Results
When controlling for age and gender individuals scored higher on total quality of life scores if they owned a service dog or a hearing service dog, but this was only statistically significant for those with a service dog. Both groups (physical service dog and hearing service dog) scored significantly higher on items relating to health, working, learning and independence if they owned a service dog, in comparison to those on the waiting list. Those with a physical service dog also scored significantly higher on items relating to recreational activities (including items relating to reading/listening to music, socialising, creative expression), and those involving social interactions (including items relating to participating in organisations, socialising, relationship with relatives). Additionally, those with a physical service dog scored higher on understanding yourself and material comforts than those on the waiting list control. In contrast, those with a hearing service dog appeared to receive fewer benefits on items relating to social activities.
Conclusions
Owning a service dog can bring significant specific and potentially general benefits to the quality of life of individuals with physical disabilities and hearing impairments. These benefits may have considerable implications for individuals with disabilities, society and the economy by promoting independence, learning and working abilities.
Scientific literature exploring the value of assistance dogs to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is rapidly emerging. However, there is comparably less literature reporting the effects of pet (as opposed to assistance) dogs to these children. In particular, there are no known validated scales which assess how children may alter their behaviours in the presence of the dog, to evaluate the efficacy of pet dogs to these families. Additionally, given the highly individualised nature of ASD it is likely that some children and families gain more benefits from dog ownership than others, yet no research has reported the effect of individual differences. This pilot study reports the development of a 28-item scale based on the perceived impact of a pet dog on a child with autism by parents (Lincoln Autism Pet Dog Impact Scale — LAPDIS). The scale is comprised of three mathematically derived factors: Adaptability, Social Skills and Conflict Management. We assessed how individual differences (aspects) may be associated with scores on these three factors. Family Aspects and Dog Aspects were not significantly associated with ratings on the three factors, but Child Aspects (including: contact with horses, child age, disability level and language abilities) were related to impact of the dog on all factors. Training Aspects were related to scores on Social Skills (formal training with children with ASD and dogs and attendance at PAWS workshops run by Dogs for Good). These results suggest that individual differences associated with the child and the training approach may be important considerations for a positive impact from dog ownership on families with children with ASD. Differences in family features and the dog may not be so important, but may be worthy of further investigations given the early stage of development in this field.
Die Menge der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zur Erforschung des Nutzens von Assistenzhunden für Kinder mit Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen steigt rapide. Dennoch gibt es vergleichsweise wenig Literatur über die Auswirkungen von Haushunden (als Gegensatz zu Assistenzhunden) auf diese Kinder. Insbesondere gibt es keine überprüften Skalen, die beurteilen, wie sich das Verhalten von Kindern in der Anwesenheit eines Hundes verändert, um die Wirksamkeit von Haushunden in diesen Familien zu untersuchen. Zudem ist es aufgrund des stark individuellen Charakters von Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen wahrscheinlich, dass manche Kinder und Familien mehr Vorteile vom Hundebesitz erfahren als andere, bisher wurde aber in keiner Studie über individuelle Unterschiede berichtet. Diese Pilotstudie berichtet über die Entwicklung einer Skala mit 28 Punkten, die auf dem von den Eltern wahrgenommenen Einfluss eines Haustiers auf ein Kind mit Autismus basiert (Lincoln Autism Pet Dog Impact Scale — LAPDIS). Die Skala setzt sich aus drei mathematisch hergeleiteten Faktoren zusammen: Anpassungsfähigkeit, soziale Fähigkeiten und Konfliktmanagement. Es wurde beurteilt, wie die individuellen Unterschiede (Aspekte) mit den Werten dieser drei Faktoren zusammenhängen könnten. Familien-Aspekte und Hunde-Aspekte waren nicht signifikant mit den Bewertungen der drei Faktoren verbunden, aber Kinder-Aspekte (einschließlich: Kontakt mit Pferden, Alter, Grad der Behinderung und Sprachfähigkeiten) waren mit dem Einfluss des Hundes auf alle Faktoren verbunden. Ausbildungsaspekte waren mit Werten der sozialen Fähigkeiten verbunden (formales Training mit Kindern mit Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen und Hunden und Teilnahme an einem Workshop). Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass individuelle Unterschiede, die mit dem Kind und dem Ausbildungsansatz in Verbindung stehen, wichtige Berücksichtigungen für einen positiven Einfluss des Hunde-Besitzes auf Familien mit Kindern, die unter Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen leiden, sein könnten. Unterschiede bei Familien-Merkmalen oder Hunden könnten nicht so wichtig sein. Da sich die Entwicklung dieses Feldes allerdings noch in der Frühphase befindet, sind weitere Untersuchungen angemessen.
Background
Having a service dog can help to increase independence and well-being among people with a disability or a chronic health condition. Although there has been an increasing use of service dogs among children and youth their impact has not yet been synthesized.
Objective
The purpose of this article was to conduct a systematic review assessing the impact of service dogs on children, youth and their families.
Methods
Systematic searches of seven international databases from 1985 to 2020 led to 29 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. Using a narrative synthesis review approach we analyzed these studies regarding their sample characteristics, methods, results and quality of evidence.
Results
There were 29 studies in our review that included 1121 children and youth (or parents representing them) that spanned across six countries over a 32-year period. Although the outcomes of the impact of service dogs varied across the studies, 23/29 of them reported an improvement in at least one of the following: physical health (i.e., diabetes management, seizure management, mobility), psychological health (i.e., quality of life, safety, behavior, stress, anxiety, self-confidence and independence), social well-being (i.e., social interactions, school and work) and dog-owner-bond. Children, youth and their parents also described several challenges in owning a service dog.
Conclusions
Our findings highlight that service dogs have potential to provide many benefits for children, youth and their families. Further research, including more rigorously designed studies, is needed to fully understand their impact.
Service dogs help persons with mobility impairments by retrieving items and performing other tasks. Hearing dogs alert persons with hearing impairments to environmental sounds. We conducted a pre-post, wait list-controlled pilot study to assess the impact of the dogs on the lives of recipients. Participants were recruited through two assistance dog training organizations and completed an initial questionnaire packet. The Experimental group completed another packet 6 months after receiving a dog. The Control group completed a second packet 6 months after the initial data collection. On average, dog recipients were very satisfied with their assistance dogs. Both service and hearing dog recipients reduced their dependence on other persons. Service dog recipients reduced hours of paid assistance. No other significant change occurred in various standardized outcome measures. Assistance dogs had a major positive impact on the lives of recipients. More appropriate measurement instruments are needed to capture the impact of these dogs.
Servicehunde helfen Menschen mit Mobilitätseinschränkungen, indem sie Gegenstände herbeibringen und andere Aufgaben ausführen. Signalhunde warnen Menschen mit Hörschäden vor Umweltgeräuschen. Eine Pilotstudie wurde zur Beurteilung der Auswirkungen von Hunden auf das Leben ihrer Besitzer durchgeführt. Die Teilnehmer wurden über zwei Ausbildungsorganisationen für Assistenzhunde rekrutiert und beantworteten ein ursprüngliches Fragebogen-Paket. Die Mitglieder der Versuchsgruppe beantworteten sechs Monate nach der Entgegennahme eines Hundes weitere Fragen. Die Kontrollgruppe beantwortete ein zweites Fragebogen-Paket sechs Monate nach der Erhebung mit dem ursprünglichen Paket. Durchschnittlich waren die Hunde-Empfänger sehr zufrieden mit ihren Assistenzhunden. Empfänger von sowohl Service- als auch Signalhunden reduzierten ihre Abhängigkeit von anderen Personen. Empfänger von Servicehunden reduzierten die Stunden bezahlter Assistenz. Es ergaben sich keine anderen Veränderungen in verschiedenen standardisierten Ergebnismessungen. Assistenzhunde hatten einen bedeutend positiven Einfluss auf das Leben der Empfänger. Es werden geeignetere Messinstrumente benötigt, um den Einfluss dieser Hunde zu erfassen.
Purpose: To qualitatively describe and compare the expectations and experiences of living with a mobility or medical service dog among those with a physical disability or chronic condition.
Materials and methods: A total of 64 participants living with a service dog and 27 on the waitlist to receive a service dog participated in a cross-sectional open-ended survey. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify themes and sub-themes.
Results: A total of 101 codes were summarized into themes of Physical Benefits, Psychosocial Benefits, and Drawbacks to having a service dog. Psychosocial benefits included the human–animal relationship as well as emotional, quality of life, and social benefits. Drawbacks included service dog care, public access and education, lifestyle adjustments, and dog behaviour. While participants on the waitlist were more likely to anticipate physical benefits of having a service dog, those with a service dog largely described psychosocial benefits. Findings also suggest that some drawbacks, such as public discrimination, may be unanticipated by the waitlist.
Conclusions: A comparison of expectations and experiences of service dog ownership highlights both the positive and negative aspects of the service dog–owner relationship and identifies potential aspects of having a service dog that may be unanticipated or overestimated by those on the waitlist.
- Implications for Rehabilitation
When asked about helpful and important aspects of having a service dog, 98% of service dog owners described the psychosocial benefits of their dog’s assistance and companionship.
The human–animal relationship was the most discussed psychosocial benefit from both current owners as well as those on the waitlist, demonstrating the unique strength of the service dog–owner bond in this population.
Those on the waitlist to receive a service dog did not anticipate as many drawbacks as current owners described. In particular, difficulties with public access and education as well as dog behaviour were commonly experienced, but not expected, drawbacks to service dog ownership.
Findings identify aspects of having a service dog that may be unanticipated or overestimated by those on the waitlist, providing rehabilitation professionals with a basis for preparing those who may be considering incorporating a service dog into their lives.
To assess the effects of service dogs on health-related quality of life (HRQOL), we conducted a survey of 10 service dog owners using SF-36v2 (Medical Outcomes Study 36 Item Short-Form Health Survey Version 2.0) and compared it with a matched control group of people with physical disabilities who did not have service dogs but were eligible for one. The scores for mental health and role emotional of service dog owners were relatively high, and their mental component summary was higher than the general population norm. These results indicate that service dogs affect the mentality of their owners. The comparison with the control group indicated that service dogs alleviate the mental burden of daily activities, and subjectively improved the physical functioning of their owners. This study showed that service dogs have positive functional and mental effects on their disabled owners.
Um die Auswirkungen von Servicehunden auf die gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität zu beurteilen, wurde eine Untersuchung mit zehn Besitzers von Servicehunden durchgeführt und mit einer passenden Kontrollgruppe von Menschen mit körperlichen Behinderungen verglichen, die keinen Servicehund besaßen, dafür aber in Frage kamen. Die Wertungen für die psychische Gesundheit und die emotionale Rolle von Servicehund-Besitzern waren relativ hoch und die Zusammenfassung ihrer mentalen Komponenten waren höher als die generelle Norm der Bevölkerung. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Servicehunde die Mentalität ihrer Besitzer beeinflussen. Der Vergleich mit der Kontrollgruppe deutet darauf hin, dass Servicehunde die mentale Bürde alltäglicher Aktivitäten mildern und subjektiv die körperliche Funktionsfähigkeit ihrer Besitzer verbessern. Diese Studie zeigte, dass Servicehunde positive funktionale und mentale Auswirkungen auf ihre Besitzer haben.
19 Disadvantages of Assistance Dog Concept
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (GDBA) wished to evaluate its service to Guide Dog Owners (GDOs) undergoing a transition between guide dog partners. Therefore, a survey was carried out that was designed to gain an understanding of the end of a guide dog partnership from the owner's point of view.
Participants included 75 GDOs whose previous partnership had ended within the past year. Emotional distress was measured by the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and a specially constructed Grief Rating Scale (GRS). Among the 59 GDOs who had no other reason for being upset at the time the partnership ended, high distress levels were found in those whose dog had died, been withdrawn from the partnership, or rehomed through GDBA, and low levels in those whose dog retired and continued to live with the owner or was placed in a home of the owner's choosing. Sixteen GDOs with other adverse events in their lives around the time the partnership ended recorded high levels of distress irrespective of why the dog stopped work or what happened to it thereafter.
Other evidence from the survey questionnaire suggested that the ending of a partnership is especially painful if the dog has had some special significance for the owner; if the partnership ends abruptly; if it is the end of the first partnership; or if there is a poor relationship with GDBA. Emotions experienced at the end of a partnership may be similar to those following the death of a pet, the loss of a close friend or relative, or the loss of sight.
Transitions between guide dog partners are a recurring consequence of guide dog mobility, and support as a partnership ends is beneficial in making a smooth transition. The issues raised in this study are relevant to assistance dog partnerships of all types. Methodological problems in designing a study for a vulnerable population are discussed.
Purpose: To qualitatively describe and compare the expectations and experiences of living with a mobility or medical service dog among those with a physical disability or chronic condition.
Materials and methods: A total of 64 participants living with a service dog and 27 on the waitlist to receive a service dog participated in a cross-sectional open-ended survey. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify themes and sub-themes.
Results: A total of 101 codes were summarized into themes of Physical Benefits, Psychosocial Benefits, and Drawbacks to having a service dog. Psychosocial benefits included the human–animal relationship as well as emotional, quality of life, and social benefits. Drawbacks included service dog care, public access and education, lifestyle adjustments, and dog behaviour. While participants on the waitlist were more likely to anticipate physical benefits of having a service dog, those with a service dog largely described psychosocial benefits. Findings also suggest that some drawbacks, such as public discrimination, may be unanticipated by the waitlist.
Conclusions: A comparison of expectations and experiences of service dog ownership highlights both the positive and negative aspects of the service dog–owner relationship and identifies potential aspects of having a service dog that may be unanticipated or overestimated by those on the waitlist.
- Implications for Rehabilitation
When asked about helpful and important aspects of having a service dog, 98% of service dog owners described the psychosocial benefits of their dog’s assistance and companionship.
The human–animal relationship was the most discussed psychosocial benefit from both current owners as well as those on the waitlist, demonstrating the unique strength of the service dog–owner bond in this population.
Those on the waitlist to receive a service dog did not anticipate as many drawbacks as current owners described. In particular, difficulties with public access and education as well as dog behaviour were commonly experienced, but not expected, drawbacks to service dog ownership.
Findings identify aspects of having a service dog that may be unanticipated or overestimated by those on the waitlist, providing rehabilitation professionals with a basis for preparing those who may be considering incorporating a service dog into their lives.
20 Laws - Definitions - Standards
During the last 2 decades, service animals that are trained to help persons with disabilities have been making more frequent appearances in health care settings. After a long history of banning animals from these environments, many health care providers now endorse the presence of these animals in clinical and public settings. This APIC State of the Art Report (SOAR) examines the prevailing laws, scientific literature, and anecdotal data about service animals. The document gives an overview of the roles of service animals and their implications for health care providers. This SOAR will also suggest ways to develop prudent policies and practices for infection control and risk management.
In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten sind im Gesundheitswesen immer häufiger Service-Tiere aufgetreten, die ausgebildet wurden, um Menschen mit Behinderung zu helfen. Nachdem Tiere für eine lange Zeit aus der medizinischen Versorgung verbannt wurden, befürworten heute viele Fürsorger die Anwesenheit von Tieren in der Öffentlichkeit und in Kliniken. Dieser Bericht beurteilt die vorherrschenden Gesetze, wissenschaftliche Literatur und anekdotische Daten über Service-Tiere. Zudem wird ein Überblick über die Rolle und die Bedeutung von Service-Tieren für Anbieter medizinischer Versorgung gegeben. Dieser Bericht schlägt außerdem Wege zur Entwicklung von umsichtigen Richtlinien und Verfahren für die Infektionskontrolle und das Risiko-Management vor.
Canadian news coverage is reflecting and shaping an evolution of thought about how we must publicly account for animals’ roles in the disability rights movement. Through a textual analysis of 26 news media articles published between 2012 and 2017, this research demonstrates that the media play a key role in reporting on discrimination, yet media narratives about service animals and their owners too often fail to capture the complexity of policies and laws that govern their lives. In Canada, there is widespread public confusion about the rights of disabled people and their service animals. This incertitude is relevant to both disability and animal oppression. This research identifies nine frames within the media narratives, as well as evaluating perspectives from critical animal studies in the news articles. These frames, which emerge in the media reports, in their descriptions of human and (less often) animal rights, illustrate public confusion surrounding these rights. The confusion is inevitable given the many laws in Canada that govern service animals. Thus, to give context to the news coverage, this article also surveys the legal protections for disabled people who use service animals in Canada, and suggests that until the news media understand the legalities surrounding service animals, they will not be well equipped to fulfil their role of informing the public. This is a lost opportunity in light of the media’s potential role as a pivotal tool to educate the public about disability and animal rights.
21 Animal-Computer Interactions (ACI) and other technologies
Periodic monitoring of the training of prospective guide dogs for the blind was evaluated to determine if the monitoring is useful in gauging the potential suitability of guide dogs. We selected 8 dogs as test dogs on the basis of their medical check and pretraining evaluation. Beginning with day 1 of training, we monitored their progress every 2 weeks for 12 weeks. The evaluation was designed to assess task performance, stress, excitement, and concentration for the task. We set the test course in a residential district, but in an area that was not used for daily training. In some variables, such as tail position, duration of distraction, and effect of the training break, there were some differences between a dog that successfully completed guide training and dogs that did not.
The number of stress reactions was significantly different between successful and unsuccessful dogs. Only 1 dog out of the 8 observed became a guide dog; however, the present study suggests that it is possible to detect some traits in the early stages of training that determine whether or not a dog successfully becomes a guide dog.