Characterizing veteran and PTSD service dog teams: Exploring potential mechanisms of symptom change and canine predictors of efficacy.
Characterizing veteran and PTSD service dog teams: Exploring potential mechanisms of symptom change and canine predictors of efficacy.
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0269186
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
精神科服务犬是一种新兴的补充干预创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。初步证据表明，与服务犬的伙伴关系可能与PTSD症状的严重程度较低有关。然而，目前尚不清楚这是如何或为什么会发生的。为了解决这一差距，我们对82名9/11后军人或退伍军人及其PTSD服务犬进行了纵向调查，以（1）评估服务犬的特征作为疗效的潜在预测因素，（2）评估狗和人类特征作为退伍军人-狗债券的潜在预测因素，（3）探索心理健康结果的潜在机制。目标1的结果表明，大多数服务犬的特征并不能预测退伍军人的心理健康结果，但较低的服务犬兴奋性与随访时PTSD症状严重程度较低相关。研究结果表明，更密切的狗与老兵的关系与更少的兴奋性狗的气质。目标3的结果表明，在后续的心理健康状况较差与更多地使用专门训练的PTSD服务犬任务，以启动一个社会问候（“交朋友”），而更好的心理健康与较少使用的优势为基础的训练方法，较低的感知情感/后勤成本的服务犬的伙伴关系，和更密切的兽医狗的关系。当有人从后面接近时，更频繁地使用受过训练的服务犬任务来发出信号（掩护/监视）与更大的焦虑有关，但PTSD症状的严重程度较低。总的来说，退伍军人平均有82%的时间与服务犬在一起（通过狗项圈和退伍军人智能手机之间的蓝牙接近度进行评估），并且最经常要求他们的服务犬执行经过训练的任务，以缓解他们的焦虑（平静/舒适焦虑）。本研究提供了主观和客观的指标之间的异质性退伍军人服务犬的二元组合，同时也表明哪些评估指标可能是参与干预的潜在机制。
Psychiatric service dogs are an emerging complementary intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Initial evidence suggests that partnership with a service dog may be related to less PTSD symptom severity. However, it remains unclear how or why this might occur. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal investigation of 82 post-9/11 military members or veterans and their PTSD service dogs to (1) evaluate service dog characteristics as potential predictors of efficacy, (2) assess dog and human characteristics as potential predictors of veteran-dog bond, and (3) explore potential mechanisms for mental health outcomes. Aim 1 results demonstrated that most service dog characteristics did not predict veterans’ mental health outcomes, but lower service dog excitability was associated with less PTSD symptom severity at follow-up. Aim 2 results showed that closer dog-veteran relationships were associated with less excitable dog temperament. Aim 3 results indicated that worse mental health at follow-up was associated with greater use of the specifically trained PTSD service dog task to initiate a social greeting (“make a friend”), whereas better mental health was related to less use of dominance-based training methods, lower perceived emotional/logistical costs of service dog partnership, and closer veteran-dog relationships. More frequent use of the trained service dog task to signal when someone approaches from behind (cover/watch back) was associated with greater anxiety, but less PTSD symptom severity. Overall, veterans spent an average of 82% of their time with service dogs (assessed via Bluetooth proximity between dog collar and veteran smartphone), and most frequently asked their service dogs to perform the trained task for calming their anxiety (calm/comfort anxiety). The present study provides subjective and objective metrics of the heterogeneity among veteran-service dog dyads while also suggesting which of the assessed metrics might be potential mechanisms involved in the intervention.
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