The study of service dogs for veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: a scoping literature review
Open accessAbstract
The therapeutic application of human-animal interaction has gained interest recently. One form this interest takes is the use of service dogs as complementary treatment for veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Many reports on the positive effect of PTSD Service Dogs (PSDs) on veterans exist, though most are indirect, anecdotal, or based on self-perceived welfare by veterans. They therefore only give a partial insight into PSD effect. To gain a more complete understanding of whether PSDs can be considered an effective complementary treatment for PTSD, a scoping literature review was performed on available studies of PSDs. The key search words were 'dog', 'canine', 'veteran', and 'PTSD'. This yielded 126 articles, of which 19 matched the inclusion criteria (six empirical studies). Recurrent themes in included articles were identified for discussion of methodology and/or results. It was found that results from most included studies were either applicable to human-animal interaction in general or other types of service animals. They therefore did not represent PSDs specifically. Studies which did discuss PSDs specifically only studied welfare experience in veterans, but used different methodologies. This lead us to conclude there is currently no undisputed empirical evidence that PSDs are an effective complementary treatment for veterans with PTSD other than reports on positive welfare experience. Additionally, the lack of development standardization and knowledge regarding welfare of PSDs creates risks for both human and animal welfare. It is therefore recommended that a study on the effect of PSDs be expanded to include evaluation methods besides self-perceived welfare of assisted humans. Future studies could include evaluations regarding human stress response and functioning, ideally conducted according to validated scientific methodologies using objective measurement techniques to identify the added value and mechanisms of using PSDs to assist treatment of PTSD in humans.
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Animal-assisted interventions were effective in improving the state of children or adults with or at risk of developing mental disorders such as ADHD, PTSD, or ASD, and for the treatment of PTSD in military veterans.
“Such interventions were effective in improving the state of children or adults with or at risk of developing mental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) [38,39,40], and for the treatment of PTSD in military veterans [41,42].”
From A One Health Perspective on the Human-Companion Animal Relationship with Emphasis on Zoonotic Aspects. (2020) · cites this paper as [42]
For this citation, the relevant claim is about treating PTSD in military veterans, not the separately cited claims about ADHD or ASD. The Introduction describes service dogs as treatment support for veterans, and the Conclusion reports positive effects on perceived welfare and quality of life. But the Conclusion says there is relatively little empirical evidence of effectiveness against PTSD symptoms and cautions that the reported benefits are largely anecdotal or self-reported; the claim’s unqualified statement of effectiveness overstates the review. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- van Houtert, E. A. E., Endenburg, N., Wijnker, J. J., Rodenburg, B., & Vermetten, E.
- Affiliations
- Department of Animal in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Leiden University Medical Center (NL)
- Venue
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-08-13
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- sup3
- Pages
- 1503523-1503523
- ISSN
- 2000-8066 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6866726
- OpenAlex
- W2885855569
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 0.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2018-09-11)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Stichting Karel Doorman Fonds
- Utrecht University Fund
- Triodos Foundation
- Royal Canin Nederland
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, veterans, human-animal interaction, service animals, complementary therapy, animal welfare, human welfare, treatment effectiveness
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