ArticleJournal of applied animal welfare science : JAAWS
A pilot study into the effects of PTSD-assistance dogs' work on their salivary cortisol levels and their handlers' Quality of life.
Article in Journal of applied animal welfare science : JAAWS. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Decoding the path to success: unveiling how behavior drives assistance dog career outcome.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Insights into the Canine Blood Donor Experience: A Multicenter Study on Physiological and Behavioral Changes.Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Testing the Level of Cortisol in Dogs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- An overview of the literature on assistance dogs using text mining and topic analysis.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Assistance dogs for people with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) support their handlers by performing tasks that are supposed to mitigate the effects of their mental disability. This study examined the Quality of Life (QoL) of PTSD-assistance dogs' handlers in Austria and Germany using a qualitative online questionnaire based on the Capability Approach. To correspondingly explore whether the involved assistance dogs experience distress triggered by their daily schedules, we measured their salivary cortisol values. These were compared to the cortisol levels of companion dogs without special tasks, as well as diabetic-signal dogs that have a similar workload. Our results showed that people suffering from PTSD-symptoms can improve their QoL with the aid of their assistance dog. However, being accompanied by an assistance dog creates new social barriers. Surprisingly, we found significantly lower salivary cortisol levels in PTSD-assistance dogs compared to the control groups. We conclude that a positive relationship between PTSD-assistance dogs and their handlers can reduce stress on both sides, and that training well tuned to the requirements of an assistance dog can prevent stress in their daily lives.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.