Human-Animal Interaction Research: Progress and Possibilities

Griffin, James A.; Hurley, Karyl J.; McCune, Sandra

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02803

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Research in the field of human-animal interaction (HAI) and assistance dogs is not only rapidly growing but is often disparately published across multidisciplinary journals and outlets. Conducting periodic systematic reviews of this research is crucial to both disseminate knowledge as well as to identify knowledge gaps for future studies [ 20 ]. As research on the assistance animal-handler relationship continues to increase, there is a need for an updated, comprehensive collation of the literature encompassing studies on the effects of all varieties of assistance dogs (guide dogs, hearing dogs, and both mobility and medical service dogs) including both published studies and unpublished theses and dissertations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of assistance dogs on psychosocial health and wellbeing: A systematic literature review

et al. 2020

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Beyond the functional tasks that assistance dogs are trained for, there is growing literature describing their benefits on the psychosocial health and wellbeing of their handlers. However, this research is not only widely disparate but, despite its growth, has not been reviewed since 2012. Our objective was to identify, summarize, and methodologically evaluate studies quantifying the psychosocial effects of assistance dogs for individuals with physical disabilities. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted across seven electronic databases. Records were independently screened by two authors. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they assessed outcomes from guide, hearing, medical, or mobility service dogs, if they collected original data on handlers’ psychosocial functioning, and if the outcome was measured quantitatively with a validated, standardized measure. Studies on psychiatric service dogs, emotional support dogs, and pet dogs were excluded. Of 1,830 records screened, 24 articles were identified (12 publications, 12 theses) containing 27 studies (15 cross-sectional, 12 longitudinal). Studies assessed the effects of mobility (18), hearing (7), guide (4), and medical (2) assistance dog partnerships with an average sample size of N = 83. An analysis of 147 statistical comparisons across the domains of psychological health, quality of life, social health, and vitality found that 68% of comparisons were null, 30% were positive in the hypothesized direction, and 2% were negative. Positive outcomes included significant effects of having an assistance dog on psychological wellbeing, emotional functioning, self-esteem, and vitality. However, it is of note that several methodological weaknesses of the studies make it difficult to draw any definitive conclusions, including inadequate reporting and a failure to account for moderating or confounding variables. Future research will benefit from stronger methodological rigor and reporting to account for heterogeneity in both humans and assistance dogs as well as continued high-quality replication.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of assistance dogs on psychosocial health and wellbeing: A systematic literature review

et al. 2020

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“…In research assessing outcomes from AAI, interactions can vary widely in terms of activities (e.g., structured or unstructured), setting (e.g., hospital bed, classroom, outdoors), human to animal ratio (e.g., group or individual interaction), and human-animal contact (e.g., duration of petting, talking, or walking). Because of this considerable variation, there is a critical need for manualized protocols and/or detailed reporting of procedures and interactions across studies ( 89 ). This will allow for a greater understanding of the benefits from AAI are due specifically to the animal's presence or to other aspects of the intervention such as novelty, attention, or human interaction ( 12 ).…”

Section: Variability In Human-animal Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in Human-Animal Interaction Research

2021

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The field of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) is plagued with mixed results. Some findings appear to indicate that interacting with a companion animal is beneficial for some aspect of human health and well-being, while other research outcomes are inconclusive or even indicate the opposite. The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at this variability in research outcomes and to provide plausible explanations and potential remedies. Some of the reasons for mixed results are likely due to the wide variety of methodologies implemented, intermittent use of standardized measures and manualized protocols, variability in human and animal participants, and limited quantification of human-animal interactions or definitions of pet ownership. Variability in research outcomes is not unique to HAI and is, in fact, not uncommon in many more established fields such as psychology and medicine. However, the potential reasons for the variability may be linked to the unique nature of HAI in that, in its' simplest form, it involves two complex organisms, a human and an animal, interacting in dynamic ways. We argue that this complexity makes research in this field particularly challenging and requires a broad spectrum of theoretical and methodological considerations to improve rigor while ensuring the validity and reliability of conclusions drawn from study results.

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“…Thus, experimental design could be critical for studying HAI effects on cognition. Decisions about durations of exposure, number and timing of cognitive tasks, and the presence of stress induction could be important in eliciting effects of animal interactions (Fournier, 2019;Griffin et al, 2019), as has been demonstrated in the exposure to nature literature (Shanahan et al, 2016;Cox et al, 2017;Stevenson et al, 2018;Stenfors et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study of human-animal interactions-the mutual and dynamic exchanges between humans and non-human animals (Griffin et al, 2019)-also rests on the same foundational principle of biophilia, though it is minimally integrated with the nature exposure literature (but see Franco et al, 2017). Human-animal interactions elicit strikingly similar effects on human health and well-being.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of human-animal interactions on affect and cognition

Stevens¹,

Thayer²

2020

Preprint

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Human-animal interaction has clear positive effects on people's affect and stress. But less is know about how animal interactions influence cognition. The aim of this study is to investigate whether interacting with animals improves cognitive performance, specifically executive functioning. To test this, we conducted two experiments in which we had participants self-report their affect and complete a series of cognitive tasks (long-term memory, attentional control, and working memory) before and after either a brief interaction with a dog or a control activity. We found that interacting with a dog improved positive affect and decreased negative affect, stress, and anxiety compared to the control condition. However, we did not find effects of animal interaction on long-term memory, attentional control, or working memory. Thus, we replicated existing findings providing evidence that interacting with animals can improve affect, but we did not find similar improvements in cognitive performance. These results suggest that either our interaction was not of sufficient dose to elicit effects on cognition or the mechanisms underlying effects of human-animal interaction on cognition differ from effects generated by other cognition-enhancing interventions such as exposure to nature. Future research should continue to grow the connection between nature exposure and human-animal interaction studies to build our understanding of cognition in response to animal interactions.

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Human-Animal Interaction Research: Progress and Possibilities

Cited by 34 publications

References 36 publications

The effects of assistance dogs on psychosocial health and wellbeing: A systematic literature review

The effects of assistance dogs on psychosocial health and wellbeing: A systematic literature review

Variability in Human-Animal Interaction Research

Effects of human-animal interactions on affect and cognition

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