Winkle Melissa, Crowe Terry K, Hendrix Ingrid
Dogwood Therapy Service Inc, Albuquerque, NM 87109, USA.
Occup Ther Int. 2012 Mar;19(1):54-66. doi: 10.1002/oti.323. Epub 2011 Aug 19.
Occupational therapists have recognized the benefits that service dogs can provide people with disabilities. There are many anecdotal publications extolling the benefits of working with service dogs, but few rigorous studies exist to provide the evidence of the usefulness of this type of assistive technology option. This systematic review evaluates the published research that supports the use of service dogs for people with mobility-related physical disabilities. Articles were identified by computerized search of PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, OT Seeker, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, SportDiscus, Education Research Complete, Public Administration Abstracts, Web of Knowledge and Academic Search Premier databases with no date range specified. The keywords used in the search included disabled persons, assistance dogs or service dogs and mobility impairments. The reference lists of the research papers were checked as was the personal citation database of the lead author. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and whereas the findings are promising, they are inconclusive and limited because of the level of evidence, which included one Level I, six Level III, four Level IV and one Level V. All of the studies reviewed had research design quality concerns including small participant sizes, poor descriptions of the interventions, outcome measures with minimal psychometrics and lack of power calculations. Findings indicated three major themes including social/participation, functional and psychological outcomes; all of which are areas in the occupational therapy scope of practice. Occupational therapists may play a critical role in referral, assessment, assisting clients and consulting with training organizations before, during and after the service dog placement process. In order for health care professionals to have confidence in recommending this type of assistive technology, the evidence to support such decisions must be strengthened.
职业治疗师已经认识到服务犬能为残疾人带来的益处。有许多轶事性的出版物赞扬了与服务犬合作的好处，但很少有严谨的研究能为这种辅助技术选项的实用性提供证据。这项系统评价评估了已发表的支持为行动相关身体残疾人士使用服务犬的研究。通过对PubMed、CINAHL、PsycINFO、OT Seeker、Cochrane系统评价数据库、SportDiscus、教育研究完整版、公共管理摘要、知识网络和学术搜索高级版数据库进行计算机化检索来识别文章，未指定日期范围。检索中使用的关键词包括残疾人、辅助犬或服务犬以及行动障碍。检查了研究论文的参考文献列表以及第一作者的个人引文数据库。十二项研究符合纳入标准，尽管研究结果很有前景，但由于证据水平的原因，这些结果尚无定论且有限，其中包括一项一级研究、六项三级研究、四项四级研究和一项五级研究。所有被审查的研究都存在研究设计质量问题，包括参与者规模小、干预措施描述不佳、心理测量学方面的结果测量最少以及缺乏功效计算。研究结果表明了三个主要主题，包括社会/参与、功能和心理结果；所有这些都是职业治疗实践范围内的领域。在服务犬安置过程之前、期间和之后，职业治疗师在转诊、评估、协助客户以及与训练组织咨询方面可能发挥关键作用。为了让医疗保健专业人员有信心推荐这种辅助技术，必须加强支持此类决策的证据。
