Service Dogs for Veterans and Military Members With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Military members and veterans (hereafter, veterans) with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increasingly seek psychiatric service dogs as a complementary intervention, yet the effectiveness of service dogs is understudied.

Objective

To estimate the associations between psychiatric service dog partnership and self-reported and clinician-rated PTSD symptom severity, depression, anxiety, and psychosocial functioning after 3 months of intervention among veterans.

Design, setting, and participants

This nonrandomized controlled trial used standardized and validated assessment instruments completed by participants and administered by blinded clinicians. Recruitment, eligibility screening, and enrollment were conducted between August 2017 and December 2019. Veter

SUBMITTER: Leighton SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11151141 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature