Abstract
Individuals who have a functional or health impairment, are often in great need of conventional healthcare, social care and support, as well as help from family and friends. The use of dogs may be an important assistive support for this population. Assistance dogs are trained to assist with their owners’ specific needs. The aim of this study is to explore service and hearing dog ownership from the owner´s perspective, by examining the owner's expectations before training a dog, and experiences after having a certified dog. This study was designed as a longitudinal intervention study with pre‐post design. The participants included in the study trained their own dogs to become service or hearing dogs. A number of open‐ended questions were answered by the participants before the training of the dog started, three months after the dog was certified, and 1–3 years after the first follow‐up. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The participants’ expectations of what the dog would contribute after being certified was high. Their perceived experiences in many ways reflected their expectations. For example, they perceived that the dog contributed to improved health status, a more active lifestyle, improved ability to feel secure, and that they had become more independent. They also felt that the dog had strengthened their social relationships. Negative experiences were also identified. Not being allowed to bring their dog into public places and negative attitudes from other people were examples of this. This study shows that individuals being supported by an assistance dog experience the dog as an invaluable help in their everyday life. By improving the owners’ lives in many ways, a certified service or hearing dog is a novel and important assistive support for people with a functional or health impairment.
Highlights
This article focuses on individuals with a functional or health impairment who receive an assistance dog
Having a functional or health impairment often means being in great need of conventional healthcare, social care and support, as well as being in need of help from family and friends (McPhail, 2016)
The service dog concept can be divided into subcategories such as physical service dogs, diabetes alert dogs, seizure alert dogs etc. (Assistance Dogs International, 2018)
Summary
This article focuses on individuals with a functional or health impairment who receive an assistance dog. An assistance dog as an assistive support can be used by people with different diseases and/or functional impairments since the training of the dog, and what they can help with, can be customised to the needs of the owner. Physical service dogs assist people with functional impairments, for instance they help with getting dressed, pick up dropped items, provide balance and stability. They are commonly trained to attract another person's attention in case of emergency or if the owner needs help. A hearing dog can assist people who have hearing impairments or who are deaf They are trained to alert their owner of important sounds such as smoke alarms, a ringing telephone, doorbells etc. They are trained to alert their owner of important sounds such as smoke alarms, a ringing telephone, doorbells etc. (The Swedish Association of Service Dogs, 2017; The Swedish Kennel Club, 2017) In this study, the focus will be on service and hearing dogs in a Swedish context
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