The effects of service dogs on psychosocial health and wellbeing for individuals with physical disabilities or chronic conditions.
Kerri E Rodriguez, Jessica Bibbo, Marguerite E O'Haire
PMID 30634884WHAT IT FOUND
People with a service dog reported better overall psychosocial health, including emotional, social, and work or school functioning, than people waiting for one.
It was not associated with anger, companionship, or sleep.
Key findings
01Having a service dog was associated with better overall psychosocial health and better emotional, social, and work or school functioning, compared with being on the waitlist.
02Having a service dog was not associated with anger, companionship, or sleep disturbance.
03Among service dog owners, emotional closeness was not correlated with outcomes, and more years with the dog had a small positive correlation with overall psychosocial health.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that the service dog caused better psychosocial health. The service dog and waitlist groups were not randomly assigned, and they differed in daily living ability, proxy reporting, and pet dog presence. Only 46% of invited people responded, so the analysed sample was much smaller than the recruited pool. The waitlist group had more parent proxy reports (54%) than the service dog group (19%), and many outcomes were self-report or parent proxy, so expectations may have influenced responses. All participants had already applied for or received a service dog, so they may not represent people with disabilities who would not seek one. The pet dog finding was not definitive because pet ownership was not matched between groups and the subgroup was small.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that giving a patient a service dog improves psychosocial health. The study was cross-sectional and not randomized, and anger, companionship, and sleep were not associated with having a service dog.