A Preliminary Analysis of Psychiatric Service Dog Placements and Sleep Patterns of Partners of Veterans With PTSD

Abstract

Partners of veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at risk of a variety of challenges, and it is unknown whether psychiatric service dogs are disruptive to their sleep or provide similar benefits that are seen in the limited literature on veterans. As part of a larger clinical trial examining the efficacy of psychiatric service dogs for veterans with PTSD and their families, this study focused on sleep patterns of veterans' partners (n = 88), incorporating both subjective (clinically validated self-report surveys) and objective sleep measures (actigraphy). Linear regression was used to analyze differences in relation to group (intervention versus control) at follow up, controlling for baseline score. Results revealed no significant differences between groups for both the subjective surveys (p = 0.15; p = 0.75) and the objective actigraphy measures (p = 0.06-0.98). This suggests that psychiatric service dogs are not disruptive, nor do they provide any benefits to partner sleep. Partners had sleep patterns on par with national norms at baseline and remained at such levels at follow up. Ultimately, using both subjective and objective measures, we found no impact of psychiatric service dogs on the sleep of veterans' partners.

Keywords: Animal-assisted intervention; assistance dog; human–animal interaction; military families.