Can Service Dogs Improve Activity and Quality of Life in Veterans With PTSD?

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Post Traumatic Stress Disorders

In brief

Service Dogs are trained to assist people with disabilities to accomplish tasks which permit the individual to be more functional in their home and social environment. Often the dogs are trained to help in the completion of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Service Dogs are efficacious for individuals with disabilities, such as vision limitations, spinal cord injury and hearing problems. In addition, some mental health outcomes have improved with the introduction of a Service Dog. A research study was mandated in the Department of Defense Bill of 2010, to examine the efficacy of service dogs for Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Together with the Cooperative Studies Program, the proponents have designed a research study to effectively meet the demands of the Bill and to provide timely research into an evolving field.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02039843

Run by

VA Office of Research and Development

People needed

287

Starts

2014-12-15

Expected to finish

2019-06-30

Last updated by the study team

2023-12-01

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Males and Females greater than> 18 years of age.
• Referral from Mental Health provider that documents PTSD.
• PTSD as a result of any trauma as determined by meeting DSM 5 diagnostic criteria.
• Enrolled in mental health services at VA and has attended at least one visit in the 90 days prior to consent.
• If individual not currently enrolled in mental health treatment decides to enroll in such then he/she may become eligible to participate in the study.
• If individual enrolled in mental health treatment schedules and attends a mental health visit then he/she may become eligible to participate in the study.
• Agrees to remain in mental health treatment throughout the duration of the study
• Can adequately care for a dog .
• Adequately caring for a dog requires that participants will be responsible for and able to provide food, water, protection, shelter, exercise, transportation, and treatment related to their assigned dog.
• Adequately handling the dog means having the ability to give and reinforce obedience commands and control the dog using a leash.
• Home environment is suitable for a dog.
• If the home environment can be remedied the potential participant may become eligible to participate in the study.
• If a participant moves home while enrolled in the study the new home must be suitable for a dog.
• Home environment is structurally and geographically accessible to study staff.
• If the home is geographically inaccessible to study staff and, the individual cannot remedy the situation unless he/she moves home. The study team will not encourage this. If a move takes place, it will be the individual's responsibility to re-contact the study team.
• If the individual changes home residence while enrolled in the study, the new home must be geographically accessible to study staff. If it is inaccessible, the dog will be removed and the individual will be withdrawn from the study.
• Is willing to accept randomization outcome.
• Has someone to care for dog during extended absence of the participant.
• If no one is available to care for the dog but the situation changes then the participant may become eligible to participate.
• Others in home are agreeable to having dog.
• If others in the home are not agreeable but at a later date the situation changes, then the potential participant may become eligible to participate.
• Is willing and able to travel (by air or car) to training site for pairing.
• If potential participant's unwillingness to travel to a training site changes, he/she may become eligible to participate. In this instance, it will be the individual's responsibility to re-contact the study team.
• Individual has no household pets that would threaten the bonding and obedience training of an assigned study dog.
• If a household dog lives inside the home and the home is partitioned such that there are two or more separate living spaces served by independent entrance/exits, and the individual does not live in a partition with a dog, then the individual can be eligible. If a household dog lives primarily outside the home in a rural area and the individual is not primarily responsible for feeding the dog on a daily basis, then the individual can be eligible.

You may not qualify if…

• Hospitalization for mental health reasons in the past 6 months.
• Once six months since hospitalization have passed, the individual may become eligible to participate in the study.
• Aggressive behavior that would make it unsafe for dog.
• Diagnosis of psychosis, delusions, dementia, moderate or severe alcohol/substance disorder (SUD), or moderate to severe traumatic brain injury as determined by the presence or absence of a condition following scoring of MINI responses or as documented in chart notes.
• SUD assessment (alcohol/non-alcohol):
• Ineligibility is based on the presence of a Moderate (4-5 symptoms) to Severe (6+ symptoms) SUD as identified by the MINI within the previous 12-month period starting from date of the study MINI screening.
• If a Moderate to Severe SUD has been documented or communicated by the referring clinician or potential participant, or is noted in the EMR prior to the initial MINI screening visit, individuals should be scheduled for their initial screening visit on a timeline commensurate with meeting the 12-month SUDs eligibility window.
• If an individual is identified as ineligible during the initial screening visit (i.e. MINI SUDs score ≥4) he/she may be re-evaluated later at the discretion of the study team. Re-evaluations should be scheduled based on a timeline commensurate with meeting the 12-month SUDs eligibility window (absence of a Moderate to Severe SUD for the previous 12 months). If at re-evaluation the individual has <4 symptoms, he/she may become eligible to participate in the study.
• Active suicidal intent as determined by a CPRS flag for suicidal intent or an endorsement of yes to question 5 (active suicidal ideation with specific plan and intent) on the C-SSRS completed at the Clinic Qualifying Visit.
• An endorsement of yes to question 4 (Active Suicidal Ideation with Some Intent to Act, without Specific Plan) without endorsement of question 5 indicates that the individual needs additional assessment to determine eligibility.
• Homicidal intent or cognitive disabilities that would preclude safety of dog and/or ability to participate in the study.
• Social, mental or physical condition that prevents the potential participant from either giving informed consent or participating in the study.
• Participation in another unapproved research trial.
• If the individual is in another unrelated study and both the study Chair/PI of this and the other study consider participation in both studies to be acceptable then the individual may become eligible to participate in this study.
• If the study Chair/PI of this and/or the other study consider participation in both studies to be unacceptable then, once participation in the other study is complete, the participant may become eligible to participate in this study. At that time, it will be the individual's responsibility to re-contact the study team.
• Has chart note flag for violent/disruptive behavior.
• Potential participants who are pregnant/who have a partner who is pregnant, or who currently have one or more children younger than age 5 in the household for more than 8 hours per day, one day a week will be excluded from the study.
• If a participant or anyone else in the household becomes pregnant during the observation period, the participant will be excluded from the study.
• Participants who have children in their home/become pregnant after being paired with a dog will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis (see Safety Monitoring of Children in the Home below).
• After a total of 10 dogs have been placed with participants who have children between the ages of 5 and 10 years, and after each pairing has successfully reached and passed the 2-month home visit, this exclusion criterion will be revisited for potential inclusion of participants with children younger than 5 years.

Where it is running

• Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur, GA — Decatur, Georgia, United States
• Iowa City VA Health Care System, Iowa City, IA — Iowa City, Iowa, United States
• VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR — Portland, Oregon, United States
• Tennessee Valley Healthcare System Nashville Campus, Nashville, TN — Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.