Leighton Sarah C, Hofer Molly E, Miller Cara A, Mehl Matthias R, Walker Tammi D, MacLean Evan L, O'Haire Marguerite E
College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Arizona, Oro Valley, Arizona, United States of America.
College of Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Mar 19;20(3):e0313864. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313864. eCollection 2025.
Service dogs, trained to assist people with disabilities, are known to impact their human partners' social experiences. While service dogs can act as a "social bridge," facilitating greater social connection under certain circumstances, many service dog partners also encounter challenges in social settings because of the presence of their service dog - despite legal protections. Among the most common challenges reported are experiences of stigma, discrimination, and access or service denials. This preregistered integrative review sought to synthesize empirical, theoretical, and legal literature to understand better the social experiences reported by service dog partners in the United States, including (1) civil rights experiences; (2) experiences of stigma and discrimination; and (3) broader social experiences. Following database searches and article screening, a total of N = 43 articles met the eligibility criteria for inclusion. Analyses were conducted in two stages: first, synthesizing quantitative and qualitative findings to explore the magnitude of social experiences reported by empirical articles and second, narrative synthesis to integrate findings across all article types. Analyses identified three themes: Adverse Social Experiences, Contributing Factors, and Proposed Solutions. Overall, we found consistent reports of stigma, discrimination, and access denials for service dog handlers. Additionally, these adverse experiences may be more common for service dog partners with disabilities not externally visible (i.e., invisible disabilities such as diabetes or substantially limiting mental health conditions). This integrative review highlights a pattern of social marginalization and stigmatization for some service dog partners, exacerbated by inadequate legal protection and widespread service dog fraud. These findings have implications for the individual well-being of people with disabilities partnered with service dogs and highlight a need for collective efforts to increase inclusion and access. Effective solutions likely require a multi-component approach operating at various socio-ecological levels.
服务犬经过训练以协助残疾人，它们会对其人类伙伴的社交体验产生影响。虽然服务犬可以充当“社交桥梁”，在某些情况下促进更广泛的社交联系，但许多服务犬伙伴在社交场合中也会因其服务犬的存在而遇到挑战——尽管有法律保护。报告中最常见的挑战包括耻辱感、歧视以及被拒绝进入场所或享受服务的经历。这项预先注册的综合综述旨在综合实证、理论和法律文献，以更好地了解美国服务犬伙伴所报告的社交体验，包括：（1）民权体验；（2）耻辱感和歧视体验；（3）更广泛的社交体验。在进行数据库搜索和文章筛选后，共有N = 43篇文章符合纳入标准。分析分两个阶段进行：首先，综合定量和定性研究结果，以探讨实证文章所报告的社交体验的程度；其次，进行叙事性综合，以整合所有文章类型的研究结果。分析确定了三个主题：不良社交体验、促成因素和建议解决方案。总体而言，我们发现服务犬主人存在耻辱感、歧视和被拒绝进入场所的一致报告。此外，对于患有外部不可见残疾（即糖尿病或严重限制心理健康状况等隐形残疾）的服务犬伙伴来说，这些不良体验可能更为常见。这项综合综述凸显了一些服务犬伙伴的社会边缘化和污名化模式，而法律保护不足和广泛存在的服务犬欺诈行为加剧了这种情况。这些发现对与服务犬为伴的残疾人的个人福祉具有启示意义，并凸显了需要集体努力以增加包容性和可及性。有效的解决方案可能需要在不同社会生态层面采取多管齐下的方法。
