While results described positive effects of service dogs in terms of social, psychological, and functional benefits for their handlers, it was concluded that all 12 of the studies had weak study designs with limitations including lack of comparison groups, inadequate description of the service dog intervention, and nonstandardized outcome measures. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. The specific aims were to (1) describe the key characteristics of studies (2) evaluate the methodological rigor of studies (3) summarize outcomes. As Serpell and colleagues point out, individuals that dont benefit from animal-assisted interventions may be just as informative from a scientific perspective as the ones that do, and the entire field potentially suffers when these sorts of contrary or ambiguous findings get buried or ignored [74]. Two of the most well-known animal studies were conducted by Konrad Lorenz and Harry Harlow. Lundqvist et al. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, a United States law, an assistance dog must do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability in order to receive public access rights [4]. In the self-evaluation subcategory, 5/19 (26%) outcomes found a significant effect of having an assistance dog on standardized measures of self-esteem, self-concept, and other measures of self-evaluation. The CES-D asks participants to rate how often they had experienced 20 depressive symptoms in the prior week using statements such as I thought my life had been a failure, while the POMS asks participants to rate from not at all to extremely how they feel right now using single words such as sad and unhappy. It is also possible that some standardized measures do not capture the intended effects from having an assistance dog. Of the 100 null comparisons, 43 (43%) were from published papers and 57 (57%) were from unpublished theses. These are important issues that deserve better understanding and broader discussion. In the next sub-category, six studies assessed life satisfaction outcomes using Satisfaction with Life Scale [SWLS; 57]. Dr. The search strategy was adapted to the other databases, including mapping terms to each databases thesaurus or prescribed vocabulary, as appropriate. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Case Studies Psychology Essay. Future research should focus on assessing outcomes from these medical alert and response assistance dogs and how their roles may be similar or different than mobility, guide, or hearing dogs. Although this tendency occurs in many fields, the file-drawer bias may especially be prevalent in human-animal interaction research due to the preconceived notion that animals are beneficial for humans [80]. This systematic review summarized the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of owning an assistance dog (including service, guide, hearing, and/or medical alert or response dogs) on standardized outcomes of psychosocial health and wellbeing of individuals with disabilities. If you've taken an introductory psychology class, then you have probably read about seminal psychological research that was done with animals: Skinner's rats, Pavlov's dogs, Harlow's monkeys. Neuron. For full functionality of this site, please enable JavaScript. The lack of guide dog-specific research is especially surprising given that guide dogs not only have the longest history of any type of assistance dog [61] but are also the most commonly placed assistance dog placed by professional facilities worldwide [2]. This means that any studies on animals cannot be accurately related to humans, making them invalid. Finally, in discussion sections, most studies (22/27; 81%) stated at least two limitations of their study. The results of Harlow's experiments indicated that this early maternal deprivation led to serious and irreversible emotional damage. Researchers who study nonhumans recognize that their studies may involve certain harms that can range from the relatively minor (e.g., drawing a blood sample) to the more serious (e.g., neurosurgery). Another potential reason for the inconsistencies in findings from studies assessing the same construct is disparities across standardized measures. To achieve the first aim of the reviewto describe study characteristicswe extracted several features of from each study and article (Table 1). In parallel with an increasing amount of research quantifying the therapeutic benefits of companion dogs and therapy dogs on human health and wellbeing [5, 6], there has been an increased focus on quantifying the physical, psychological, and social effects that assistance dogs may have on their handlers [79]. Our second aim was to evaluate the methodological rigor of studies. In addition, null findings were reported on standardized measures of family role 3-, 6-, and 12-months after receiving a mobility service dog [15], discrimination and social inclusion 12-months after receiving a mobility service dog [34], and family and social self-concept among mobility dog users compared to a control group [37]. [16] found no difference in sleep disturbance between individuals with mobility or medical service dog and a control group. Continued efforts are required to improve methodological rigor, conduct replicable research, and account for heterogeneity in both humans and animals to advance the state of knowledge in this field. All articles were screened by two independent reviewers (authors KR and JG) using Covidence systematic review software (Veritas Health Innovation, Melbourne, Australia). Some connect animal testing to racism or sexism, arguing that all living creatures are worthy of respect and that making animals suffer for any reason is morally wrong. The most common provider organizations represented were Canine Companions for Independence (CCI; six mobility service dog studies), Paws with a Cause (four mobility service dog studies), and Hearing Dogs for Deaf People (HDDP; four hearing dog studies). Of 12 total vitality comparisons, 6 (50%) were positive (improved or better vitality in comparison to pre- or control conditions), 6 (50%) were null (no difference) and zero (0%) were negative (decreased or worse vitality in comparison to pre- or control conditions). An iterative, multi-stage trajectory for developing animal models and assessing their quality is proposed. Regarding emotional health, 7/15 (46%) outcomes were significant across group or condition. The study of nonhuman animals has actually played a huge role in psychology, and it continues to do so today. The roles of dogs to assist in improving human wellbeing continue to expand. Of 15 cross-sectional studies that surveyed individuals who owned assistance dogs for variable periods of time, 4/15 studies (27%) considered length of time of assistance dog ownership as a potential explanatory or moderating variable in analyses. For the study of most cognitive functions, lesion studies in animals have and will likely continue to provide insights that cannot be obtained through research on humans. Probably not, in much the same way that nonhuman research that permitted a significant human study to be conducted is rarely described in todays textbooks. The authors concluded that although results are promising, conclusions drawn from the results must be considered with caution [9]. The rationale for excluding qualitative studies from inclusion was to focus on outcomes using standardized measures to facilitate quantitative comparisons across studies. Animal experimentation, also called animal testing, has contributed to many important scientific and medical discoveries. However, 2 studies found worse occupational functioning in terms of employment, schooling, or homemaking. Research in the field of human-animal interaction (HAI) and assistance dogs is not only rapidly growing but is often disparately published across multidisciplinary journals and outlets. To assess methodological rigor, a total of 15 extracted items were sourced from methodological assessment tools including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Study Quality Assessment Tools [24], the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist [25], the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklists [26], and the Specialist Unit for Review Evidence (SURE) Checklists [27]. In introduction sections, all studies described an objective, but only 17/27 (63%) of studies stated a directional hypothesis. Importantly, only a few comparisons were made in the negative direction (2%) indicating that there is limited reason to believe that acquiring an assistance dog is associated with worse functioning. Subjectivity Researchers working with dolphins and primates have been criticised for becoming overly attached to the research and exaggerating findings. For example one could not look at the effects of maternal deprivation by removing infants from their mothers or conduct isolation experiment on humans in the way that has been done on other species. Future research should specify not only ethical protocols for human subjects research, but also for animal subjects, which is often underutilized and/or underreported in AAI research [73]. Ethical Considerations and Advances in the Understanding of Animal Cognition. Of 1,830 records screened, 24 articles were identified (12 publications, 12 theses) containing 27 studies (15 cross-sectional, 12 longitudinal). Research has indicated that beyond the physical or tangible benefits that an assistance dog is trained to provide (e.g. Part of that approval process requires the scientist to identify whether there might be less invasive ways to do the same thing. However, only 44% (12/27) of studies reported statistical values (e.g. Further, in contrast to a psychiatric service dog or an emotional support dog, the assistance dogs in this review are not explicitly trained for mental health-related support and their effects on the psychosocial health of their handlers may be variable rather than population-wide. Nine studies assessed self-esteem as a primary outcome, with four studies [14, 32, 36, 46] finding a significant effect of having a guide, hearing, mobility, or medical service dog on self-esteem as measured by the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale [RSES; 53]. Samples sizes ranged from 10 to 316 participants with an average sample size across all studies of N = 83 +/- 74 participants and a median sample size of N = 53. Longitudinal assessment time points were varied. The other five studies found no effect of having a mobility service dog [32], hearing dog [29, 32], or guide dog [38] on life satisfaction using SWLS. The third aim of the review was to summarize psychosocial outcomes of studies. [15] found improvements to daily work activities 3- and 12-months after receiving mobility service dog (but not in self-care or dealing with life events). Compared to those on the waitlist, individuals with an assistance dog report better psychosocial functioning and wellbeing [16, 17]. Of five studies using a version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale [55] only Yarmolkevich [46] found significantly lower self-reported loneliness in those with a guide dog compared to a control group. Animal Domestication: Animal domestication is when humans take animals from the wild and keep them over successive generations in controlled environments where the animals are always available to humans. However, more than half of all studies (16/27; 59%) had sample sizes greater than or equal to N = 50. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0243302, Editor: Geilson Lima Santana, University of Sao Paulo Medical School, BRAZIL, Received: July 22, 2020; Accepted: November 18, 2020; Published: December 2, 2020. Center for the Human-Animal Bond, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America, Current address: Human-Animal Bond in Colorado, School of Social Work, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America, Affiliation: [32] reported no relationship between the mobility domain and having a service dog or hearing dog. Thus, this pattern may be better explained by the file drawer effect in which there is a bias towards publishing positive findings over null findings [79]. A majority of studies (18/27; 67%) assessed outcomes from mobility service dogs for individuals with physical disabilities. If it does, then it can be tested on humans with a lower risk of a negative outcome. Of 27 studies, 7 (26%) reported outcomes from at least one standardized measure of vitality with a total of five different standardized measures. Most studies (17/27; 63%) recruited from a single assistance dog provider organization, while the remaining studies recruited from a range of providers (7/27; 26%) or did not report the source of the assistance dogs in the study (3/27; 11%). Visual display of methodological ratings for N = 27 studies ordered by the number of studies addressing each item. The most commonly studied type of assistance dog was mobility service dogs, followed by hearing dogs. In addition, the scientist must justify the numbers of animals that they use, insuring they are using the smallest number possible. Therefore, future studies are warranted that specifically assess health and wellbeing using validated parent-proxy or self-report measures to fully understand the potential effects that assistance dogs can have on children and adolescents with disabilities. PLoS ONE 15(12): Lack of control: Another downside is that the experimenter cannot control for outside variables. In the overall quality of life sub-category, 2/8 (25%) comparisons were significant. In addition, reporting detailed information on assistance dogs allows for the consideration of the dogs as individual agents in the therapeutic process rather than as uniform tools [1, 74]. Specifically, this review sought to systematically identify, summarize, and evaluate studies assessing psychosocial outcomes from owning an assistance dog (including service, guide, hearing, and/or medical alert or response dogs) with measures tested for reliability and validity among individuals with physical disabilities. Marguerite E. OHaire, Affiliation: Second, only 63% of studies described inclusion and/or exclusion criteria of recruited participants, and some studies did not report all demographic or disability characteristics of participants. In the 1950s research which used animal subjects to investigate early life experiences and the ability for organisms to form attachments contributed significantly to the field of developmental psychology. Moderator analyses will be useful in determining the potential explanatory effects that handler-service dog relationships have on psychosocial outcomes. Using a new technique, it is now possible to temporarily inactivate the amygdala in a monkey and see how other brain areas (including those that are not directly connected to the amygdala) change their activity (Grayson et al., 2016). Table 5 displays all quality of life outcomes across studies within the sub-categories of overall quality of life, life satisfaction, and independence. [35] found no improvement 3-months after receiving a mobility, hearing, or medical service dog, Donovan [28] found no improvement 4-months after receiving a mobility service dog, and Shintani et al. A health information specialist (JY) constructed and executed comprehensive search strategies in six electronic databases: MEDLINE (PubMed platform), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (EBSCOhost platform), ERIC (EBSCOHost), Web of Science Core Collection (Web of Science), PsycINFO (EBSCOhost), and PsycARTICLES (EBSCOhost). Will this monkey study, which enabled such a discovery to be made, be described? performing mobility-related tasks such as pulling a wheelchair or retrieving dropped items), individuals with medical conditions (e.g. Study designs included both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, with only one randomized longitudinal study identified [14]. While results described positive effects of service dogs in terms of social, psychological, and functional benefits for their handlers, it was concluded that all 12 of the studies had weak study designs with limitations including lack of comparison groups, inadequate description of the service dog intervention, and nonstandardized outcome measures. For general psychological health, 5/11 (45%) outcomes were significant across group or condition. Not only are companion dogs prevalent in modern society, but dogs are also often intentionally incorporated into therapeutic processes in the contexts of animal-assisted activities (AAA) and animal-assisted therapy [AAT; 1]. In fact, positive, null, and negative findings are equally instrumental in understanding the complexities of the role that assistance dogs play in the lives of individuals with physical disabilities. Human participants in these studies included those with hearing or visual impairments, diabetes, and seizure disorders. Methodological weaknesses including poor reporting of assistance dog interventions and statistical limitations prevent any clear conclusions made regarding the psychosocial effects of assistance dogs on individuals with disabilities. Summary of psychological outcomes across N = 27 studies ordered by sub-category, then by standardized measure. Of 27 studies, 18 (67%) reported outcomes a standardized measure of social health with a total of 18 different standardized measures. Importantly, unpublished theses had a similar average sample size as published studies, with similar power to detect effects compared to published studies. In terms of general social functioning, 2/10 comparisons made were significant. When human studies are presented, there is rarely discussion of the basic animal research that enabled those studies to be done. What are the disadvantages of being an animal behaviorist . However, increasingly modern methods allow the 3R principle of reducing, refining and replacing animal experiments to be put into practice . Interestingly, only one included study [16] assessed outcomes from participants under the age of 18. In total, 147 comparisons were made across the 27 studies that examined the effect of having an assistance dog on a standardized scale or sub-scale on a psychosocial outcome: 58 (39%) psychological outcomes, 43 (29%) social outcomes, 34 (23%) quality of life outcomes, and 12 (8%) energy/vitality outcomes. As a final consideration, it is possible that assistance dogs may not confer significant psychosocial benefits as quantified by some of the standardized measures used. Further, as researchers increasingly incorporate standardized outcome measures into this research, collating and pooling findings will allow researchers to compare outcomes across different populations and interventions while estimating the magnitude of effects across domains. In addition, many studies did not account for confounding variables such as having a pet dog, the progressiveness or type of disability, or relationship status. Ironically, those animals that are likely to be the best models for psychopathology are also likely to be considered the . Discover a faster, simpler path to publishing in a high-quality journal. Limitations and Benefits of Psychological Research on Animals Many people see animal testing as a cruel and inhumane practice. This effect may be compounded by the possibility that those who apply for an assistance dog may inherently have certain positive characteristics (e.g., stable housing, stable finances, has a familial support system) that contribute to overall psychosocial health. Jamie Greer, Finally, most studies (21/27;78%) compared outcomes to a control or comparison condition. Two studies found increased social participation 3-, 6-, and 12-months [15] as well as 7-months [33] after receiving a mobility service dog, while Donovan [28] found no change in social participation 4-months receiving a mobility service dog. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States of America, Affiliation: In this review, we have provided a primer on permanent and reversible lesion techniques currently in use in animal research, and a brief discussion of how they might . In fact, nine new articles were identified (three theses, six publications) that had been published since the last review on this topic in 2012 [9]. Therefore, detailed descriptions of study populations is critical for helping the field understand for whom assistance dogs are beneficial regarding social, emotional, or psychological health and under what contexts or conditions [74]. However, Guest et al. To compare methodological rigor by study design, an independent t-test was used to compare mean scores across longitudinal and cross-sectional designs. First, only 59% of studies stated whether ethical approval for human subjects was sought and received. Methodological rigor also did not significantly correlate with year of publication (r = 0.327, p = 0.096) nor total sample size (r = 0.258, p = 0.194). Animal psychologists have been undergoing an identity crisis, with increasingly common criticisms of the traditional field revolving around the assumption that laboratory preparations alone will reveal laws of learning having generality. An important finding from this review was that most positive findings were reported in published studies, while unpublished theses were more likely to report null findings. Articles were published from 19942018 with publication dates in the 1990s (5), 2000s (9), and 2010s (10) indicating an increasing publication rate on this topic over time. Service dogs can assist individuals with physical disabilities (e.g. Summary of vitality outcomes across studies ordered by sub-category, then by standardized measure. Study characteristics of N = 27 studies separated by longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, ordered by publication year. [35] found increased SF-36 health transition scores after 3-months of having a mobility, hearing, or medical service dog, while Guest [13] found an increase in general health 3-months after receiving a hearing dog using the 30-item General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-30; 48]. purpose-bred from a provider, self-trained) and breeds (e.g., Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, Mixes). Of 27 studies, 15 were cross-sectional and 12 were longitudinal. Second, there is inherent variation in both the quality and quantity of interactions from one assistance dog-owner pair to the next. A total of 30% of comparisons made were positive in which having an assistance dog was associated with improved psychosocial functioning among individuals with disabilities. Advantages Useful Findings. [32] found no difference in occupational functioning 7-months after receiving a mobility service dog and Milan [41] found no group difference in those with and without a mobility service dog. However, other studies reported no relationship between having a mobility service dog and self-esteem via the RSES [39, 41] or other standardized measures of self-esteem [15, 28, 36]. For example, without any animal research, effective treatments for human conditions like Alzheimers disease may very well be found, but it would certainly take decades longer to find them, and in the meantime, millions and millions of additional people would suffer. Although outcomes from assistance dog placement for children and adolescents have been quantified with qualitative [e.g., 6971] and observational [e.g., 72] study designs, effects on standardized measures of psychosocial wellbeing including social functioning have not been explored. Register for the early bird rate. Our first aim was to describe study characteristics of the literature. We also planned to extract or manually calculate effect sizes to create funnel plots to investigate potential publication biases. Jane K. Yatcilla, Summary of methodological rating scores by each of the N = 27 individual studies. A total of 254 records were screened via full text, of which 230 were excluded. In terms of emotional functioning, two studies found positive results using the SF-36 role emotional domain; Lundqvist et al. The most notable weaknesses included a lack of adequate reporting in the methodological sections, which not only limits interpretation of findings but prevents reproducibility. On the other hand, Spence [34] found no improvement to a composite score of psychological health 12-months after receiving a mobility service dog. Beyond the functional tasks that assistance dogs are trained for, there is growing literature describing their benefits on the psychosocial health and wellbeing of their handlers. PLOS ONE promises fair, rigorous peer review, We found that similar to the range of study characteristics observed, there was considerable variation in the methodological rigor of included studies. Using another measure of energy and fatigue, Craft [40] found no difference in those with or without a mobility service dog. To summarize study outcomes, extracted items included statistical comparisons for any psychosocial outcomes from included studies. e0243302. Inability to draw cause-and-effect conclusions: The biggest disadvantage of naturalistic observation is that determining the exact cause of a subject's behavior can be difficult. This page has been archived and is no longer being updated regularly. Future research is necessary to determine if in fact some measures are inappropriate to measure change following an assistance dog, which may be addressed using interviewing and focus group techniques among assistance dog handlers. Data from 5,191 children were included in the study; 2,236 lived in homes with a dog or cat, and 2,955 lived in households that did not include any animals. In terms of general vitality and energy, four studies used the SF-36 to measure the effect of having an assistance dog on the vitality domain. He received his PhD in comparative psychology from the University of California at Davis in 1982, and was a postdoctoral researcher in developmental psychobiology in the department of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Table 6 summarizes vitality outcomes across studies within the sub-categories of general energy/vitality and sleep. However, this research is not only widely disparate but, despite its growth, has not been reviewed since 2012. For example, organizations that place assistance dogs may have housing, familial, physical, or even financial requirements for potential recipients that should be subsequently reported in the manuscript to fully define the population. In addition, we can better understand fundamental processes because of the precise control enabled by animal research (e.g., living environments, experimental conditions, etc.). Other studies found increased social connectedness 3-months after receiving a mobility or hearing dog [31] and increased community integration 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after receiving a mobility service dog [14]. Studies compared outcomes of individuals with an assistance dog to before they received the dog (six longitudinal studies), to participants on the waitlist to receive an assistance dog (five longitudinal and seven cross-sectional studies), or to participants without an assistance dog (eight cross-sectional studies).
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