To achieve the first aim of the reviewto describe study characteristicswe extracted several features of from each study and article (Table 1). 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. If small rodents are incapable of feeding, they will die within hours - it is highly likely that many substances would not be toxic if a simple sugar solution was injected. 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. To date, there have been several reviews summarizing the literature on the psychosocial effects of assistance dogs on their handlers. However, methodological rigor did not significantly differ by study design (t(25) = -0.940, p = 0.356). 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]. In methods sections, only 16/27 (59%) of studies indicated whether ethical approval for conducting human subjects research was sought and received. Of 27 studies, 7 (26%) reported outcomes from at least one standardized measure of vitality with a total of five different standardized measures. Service dogs can assist individuals with physical disabilities (e.g. To summarize study outcomes, extracted items included statistical comparisons for any psychosocial outcomes from included studies. On the other hand, Spence [34] found no improvement to a composite score of psychological health 12-months after receiving a mobility service dog. The electronic searches were performed on July 23, 2018, and updated on January 23, 2019. Jamie Greer, Disadvantages of animal studies in psychology, are the finest-quality pictures of lovely, adorable animals that we have gathered for you and Friend. Another potential reason for the inconsistencies in findings from studies assessing the same construct is disparities across standardized measures. 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. found significantly lower depression and anxiety using the POMS and GHQ-30, respectively, 6-months after receiving a hearing dog [13]. 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. Of the 44 positive comparisons, 36 (82%) were from published papers and 8 (18%) were from unpublished theses. Six comparisons were made to measure the effect of having an assistance dog on clinical measures of depression or anxiety. A common argument against the use of animals in experiments is that animals are not good models for humans, based on the observation that we are not simply larger versions of lab rats - our bodies (and minds) work differently. Of 5 studies that used the mental health domain of the SF-36 or the shorter 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), only Shintani et al. However, Lundqvist et al. Animal studies in psychology - American Psychological Association Seven studies (26%) had sample sizes less than or equal to N = 20, all of which were longitudinal. Therefore, the current literature is limited to correlational, rather than causal conclusions regarding the benefits of assistance dogs on the psychosocial health of their owners. 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. This variation in assessment times makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions on conflicting findings. 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). [16] found no difference in sleep disturbance between individuals with mobility or medical service dog and a control group. Capitanios research interests are focused on developing naturally-occurring nonhuman primate models of psychological processes, in order to better understand the underlying biology of phenomena such as loneliness, inhibited temperament and poor social functioning. Dr. Ethical Views on the Use and Abuse of Animals | Psychology Today The three Rs are: Reduction, Refinement . Abstract. Ethical and Scientific Considerations Regarding Animal Testing - PLOS [17] found an effect of having an assistance dog on mental health. Conducting periodic systematic reviews of this research is crucial to both disseminate knowledge as well as to identify knowledge gaps for future studies [20]. The replicated measures identified in this review can serve as a basis for future researchers to collate the existing literature when making assessment choices. [35] found increased functioning 3-months after receiving a mobility, hearing, or medical service dog, while Shintani et al. However, Guest et al. 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. 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]. Assistance dog placements and roles have grown rapidly in recent decades, especially in the United States, Canada, and Europe [2]. What are the disadvantages of being an animal behaviorist . Subjectivity Researchers working with dolphins and primates have been criticised for becoming overly attached to the research and exaggerating findings. Finally, one of the most notable examples of poor methodological reporting across studies was the omission of information regarding assistance dogs sources (e.g. We found that studies reported mostly psychological outcomes (74%), followed by social outcomes (67%), quality of life outcomes (70%), and vitality (26%) outcomes. These are important issues that deserve better understanding and broader discussion. Finally, its important to note that animal research in the United States is very tightly regulated by a series of federal and state laws, policies and regulations, dating back to the landmark Animal Welfare Act from 1966. 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). 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. Animal Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 - PSYCHOLOGY WIZARD While there are no legal requirements specifying that an assistance dog must be certified, registered, or receive any specialized training to receive public access rights, independent organizations such as ADI, the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP), and the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF) define a set of minimum training and behavior standards for public access that help guide the assistance dog industry. The third aim of the review was to summarize psychosocial outcomes of studies. Second, there is inherent variation in both the quality and quantity of interactions from one assistance dog-owner pair to the next. In the mobility domain, only Milan [41] found a significant effect of having a mobility service dog on the CHART mobility domain (which includes hours per day out of bed and days per week out of the house) while Davis [44] and Rintala et al. The rhesus monkey connectome predicts disrupted functional networks resulting from pharmacogenetic inactivation of the amygdala. Of 27 studies, 20 (74%) assessed a psychological outcome with a total of 24 different standardized measures. 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). In addition to poor methodological reporting, many studies were restrained by statistical weaknesses. Another early review published by Sachs-Ericsson and colleagues in 2002 [8] summarized 14 quantitative studies on both standardized and nonstandardized outcomes following mobility service dog or hearing dog placement (omitting guide dogs). 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. 14 Pros and Cons of Animal Research - Vittana.org Oversight and inspection of facilities is provided by the U.S. Dept. However, increasingly modern methods allow the 3R principle of reducing, refining and replacing animal experiments to be put into practice . Importantly, unpublished theses had a similar average sample size as published studies, with similar power to detect effects compared to published studies. Plants lack a nervous system and therefore cannot be used to learn about psycho- logical phenomena. Ironically, those animals that are likely to be the best models for psychopathology are also likely to be considered the . Four studies found no effect of having a hearing dog [29] or mobility service dog [39, 41] on the UCLA Loneliness Scale. 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]. Of 1,830 records screened, 24 articles were identified (12 publications, 12 theses) containing 27 studies (15 cross-sectional, 12 longitudinal). Marguerite E. OHaire, Affiliation: However, more than half of all studies (16/27; 59%) had sample sizes greater than or equal to N = 50. [66, 67]) but smaller than that of pet dog research [68]. 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]. Pet-Owning Kids Are Generally Better Off You can learn more about some of this research, as well as the ethical and regulatory issues that are involved, by consulting online resources such as Speaking of Research. An important question for the field moving forward will be to determine for whom an assistance dog may confer the most significant psychosocial health benefits for, and under what contexts or conditions. This is the result of a new study led by researchers at the University of Mannheim and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin Lethality as a side-effect - mortality in animals is often the result of lack of food and water, and is not only the primary effect of the substance being studied. 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 terms of general social functioning, 2/10 comparisons made were significant. 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. [45] found higher health-related quality of life among those with a mobility service dog compared to a control group, but not among those with a hearing dog. Ethical Considerations and Advances in the Understanding of Animal Cognition. It is unreasonable to assume that the changes to an individuals life following receipt of an assistance dog is identical for all ages, gender identities, backgrounds, and disabilities. Study characteristics of N = 27 studies separated by longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, ordered by publication year. Of 27 studies, 18 (67%) reported outcomes a standardized measure of social health with a total of 18 different standardized measures. [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. Further, as publication bias and the file-drawer effect is an often referenced weakness of the HAI literature [22], two dissertation and thesis databases and abstracts of two conferences were searched for unpublished studies. The below discussion considers various potential explanations for the inconsistencies in findings across studies. 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. Our second aim was to evaluate the methodological rigor of studies. Using another measure of energy and fatigue, Craft [40] found no difference in those with or without a mobility service dog. of Agriculture, and, at the local level by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). One of the first reviews published by Modlin in 2000 [7] summarized nine published quantitative and qualitative studies on the benefits of guide dogs, hearing dogs, and mobility service dogs on their handlers (omitting unpublished theses). These studies were reviewed to complete three specific aims: to describe the key characteristics of studies, to evaluate the methodological rigor of studies, and to summarize outcomes. This research aimed to conduct a systematic assessment of the current state of knowledge regarding the potential benefits of assistance dogs on standardized outcomes of the health and wellbeing of individuals with disabilities. In particular, not only did studies vary largely in terms of sample size, but they also varied in the manner in which statistical analyses were conducted. This poses a severe threat to the validity of findings as group differences in outcomes could be caused by underlying differences in certain demographics or characteristics and cannot be confidently attributed to the presence of the assistance dog. However, positive findings were found in depression using the POMS by a different study [13]. Studies are often described without specifying that they were animal studies. mobility or guide), thus restricting human participants to a single category of impairments. [14] which found significantly higher internal locus of control 6-months after receiving a mobility service dog. Citation: Rodriguez KE, Greer J, Yatcilla JK, Beck AM, OHaire ME (2020) The effects of assistance dogs on psychosocial health and wellbeing: A systematic literature review. Can you really generalise results from animals to humans? The most commonly studied type of assistance dog was mobility service dogs, followed by hearing dogs. 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. We also planned to extract or manually calculate effect sizes to create funnel plots to investigate potential publication biases. In addition to the different human and dog phenotypes that contribute to this heterogeneity, there are likely differences in the strength of the human-animal bond and attachment relationships formed between assistance dogs and handlers [19, 76]. Thoughts on limitations of animal models - ScienceDirect In one example, four studies included in this review failed to find significant results in comparisons of depression using the CES-D [28, 3941]. Only 6/27 (22%) reported any estimates of effect size in their results. Breakthroughs include the development of many antibiotics, insulin therapy for diabetes, modern anesthesia, vaccines for whooping cough and other diseases, the use of lithium in mental health treatments, and the discovery of . Brought to you by Sciencing Unnecessary Cruelty Animal rights advocates argue that testing on animals is cruel and unnecessary. Still, some harms will remain, and ethically, one must weigh those harms against the potential benefits (for humans and for the animals themselves) to be obtained from the research. The systematic literature review was conducted according to The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines [21]. found better social functioning in those with a mobility or medical service dog compared to a control group [16] while Guest found improved social functioning 3- and 12-months after receiving a hearing dog [13]. 2016 Jul 20;91(2):453-66. The latter offers a more cynical take on animal welfare, namely that. Three Blind Mice, See How They Run: A Critique of Behavioral Research Longitudinal studies have found that individuals report improvements to their emotional wellbeing, social functioning, and quality of life just 3 to 6 months after receiving an assistance dog [1315]. To achieve the second aim of the reviewto evaluate the methodological rigor of studieseach study was assessed if they met a set of 15 methodological rating items using a scale of yes, no, or N/A (Table 2). As with every experimental methodology, there are disadvantages to using animals in experiments. Construct a Regional Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study of the Beijing They argue that all life is sacred and animals go through a lot of distress during experiments in which they involuntarily take part. Table 4 summarizes the social outcomes across studies within the sub-categories of general social functioning, loneliness, and social participation. However, even within a single category, there are differences in assistance dog breeds, temperaments, and training that may significantly contribute to observed variance across studies. The only other positive outcome was from Allen et al. Two studies from the a single thesis [29] made the remaining 14 comparisons on measures of loneliness distress and complementary loneliness, finding no significant changes to loneliness six months after receiving a hearing dog and no significant group differences in loneliness compared to those without a hearing dog. 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. Part of the justification for why nonhuman animals are studied in psychology has to do with the fact of evolution. S1 Table. Purdue University Libraries, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America. As the assistance dog itself is the key component of the intervention, details regarding the dogs breeding, rearing, selection, and training, as well as the assistance dog-handler matching process are critical to disentangling potential mechanisms [75]. Positive outcomes included significant effects of having an assistance dog on psychological wellbeing, emotional functioning, self-esteem, and vitality. A study protocol was designed a-priori to define the search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and items for data extraction.
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