BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1574445
An exploratory investigation of psychosocial effects of service dogs on veterans' families from the perspective of family members
Provisionally accepted
- University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Research on the psychosocial effects of service dogs (SDogs) on veterans’ family members is relatively limited and often centers veterans’ perspectives rather than those of the family. This exploratory study aimed to examine how [country] veterans’ family members perceive veterans’ SDog and how they affect different psychosocial outcomes, specifically family quality of life and caregiving. A mixed-methods design utilizing an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews was employed. A non-probability sample of veterans’ family members (i.e., spouses, parents, siblings, friends) were recruited via convenience and snowball sampling methods. Participants (N = 35) completed an online questionnaire containing scales measuring their perceptions of and bond with the SDogs, their experience of caregiving, and overall family quality of life. Interviews with veterans’ spouses (N = 7) expanded on these topics. We analyzed quantitative data with descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitative data with content analysis. Overall, family members had positive perceptions of and felt bonded to the SDogs. Caregiver scores were relatively high suggesting risk of burnout. Interviewed participants reported no change in their caregiving duties, but they worried less about the veterans because of the SDog. Family quality of life scores were relatively high and SDogs were generally well-integrated into the family, but families seemed to need some support concerning their own emotional well-being. Findings from this study highlight some of the psycho-social benefits of SDogs for veterans’ families from their perspectives. Optimizing these benefits may require awareness of and managing drawbacks related to SDogs...
Keywords: Veterans, service dogs, Family, caregiving, human-animal bond
Received: 10 Feb 2025; Accepted: 11 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Williamson, Rath and Dell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Linzi Williamson, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.