Service Dogs
The current study examined the effects on disabled individuals when they owned or interacted with service dogs. The results revealed that individuals feel owning a dog, service or regular, does make a positive and significant difference in the lives of the disabled and, therefore, supports the hypothesis.
There were two surveys. One dealt with disabled individuals and the other dealt with caretakers or people who knew the disabled individual. In both surveys, the majority of participants stated that there was only interaction with regular dogs and never therapy dogs. However, what needs to be taken into consideration is that the usage of service dogs is not widely known to the public. As a result, some participants may not completely understand what it means to have a service dog and the many different forms of this treatment there is. As a whole, the two surveys revealed that most of the disabled individuals interacted with a dog more than once a week, particularly 5-7 times. This may be largely due to them owning the dog—relating back to the lack of service dog interaction. …show more content…
Unsurprisingly, there were several limitations that occurred in this study.
All the participants (from both surveys) were seniors in high school whose ages ranged from seventeen to eighteen. If the age range was expanded the results may have been slightly different and more reliable. Honesty from the participants is also something that has to be taken into consideration. The surveys were emailed to each individual, and their answers may have varied depending on where they were when they took it. If there were other individuals with them at the time, their answers may be slightly different or untruthful. Another smaller limitation is that the first survey had slightly more female participants (53.8%). Even though this may not be an extreme complication, the overall outcome may be slightly different
otherwise.
What also must be remembered is that the topic of this study can be sensitive to some people—causing less participation. Because of this, the individuals who took part in the first survey, for the most part, did not have severe disabilities. Individuals who have extreme disabilities may have given stronger results, but most feel uncomfortable talking about their condition. The similar situation occurred in the second survey, which involved participants who knew or cared for the disabled individual. The majority who were willing to participate knew individuals with not very extreme disorders. This is most likely due to people not feeling very comfortable talking about friends or relatives with severe mental or physical disorders. Lastly, severe disorders are not common, making it even harder to find a lot of test subjects.
Bias was also present in this study. Almost all the students who participated in the surveys were from the Alexander High School Medical Magnet Program. If the population was broadened to include other high school students or non-magnet students there may have been different trends. Had surveys been given to students who did not want to pursue medical careers and exposed to different surroundings, there may have been stronger results.
Further research should include equal numbers of both genders for each survey, therefore, expanding the population to other ages, high schools, and non-magnet students. By doing this, the researcher may be able to obtain a larger amount of willing participants and include a larger variety of disabilities in their study. Additionally, further researchers should try to have an equal number of participants with physical and mental disabilities to allow accurate comparisons.
Even with these limitations present, the initial purpose of this study was still executed by showing that owning a service dog can improve the health of someone who is physically or mentally disabled. This study revealed that owning or interacting with a dog, whether it is service or non-service, does have a positive effect on disabled individuals and, therefore, supports the thesis statement—If someone, who is disabled, owns or interacts with a dog, then their emotional, physical and mental health will be improved.
There were two surveys. One dealt with disabled individuals and the other dealt with caretakers or people who knew the disabled individual. In both surveys, the majority of participants stated that there was only interaction with regular dogs and never therapy dogs. However, what needs to be taken into consideration is that the usage of service dogs is not widely known to the public. As a result, some participants may not completely understand what it means to have a service dog and the many different forms of this treatment there is. As a whole, the two surveys revealed that most of the disabled individuals interacted with a dog more than once a week, particularly 5-7 times. This may be largely due to them owning the dog—relating back to the lack of service dog interaction. …show more content…
Unsurprisingly, there were several limitations that occurred in this study.
All the participants (from both surveys) were seniors in high school whose ages ranged from seventeen to eighteen. If the age range was expanded the results may have been slightly different and more reliable. Honesty from the participants is also something that has to be taken into consideration. The surveys were emailed to each individual, and their answers may have varied depending on where they were when they took it. If there were other individuals with them at the time, their answers may be slightly different or untruthful. Another smaller limitation is that the first survey had slightly more female participants (53.8%). Even though this may not be an extreme complication, the overall outcome may be slightly different
otherwise.
What also must be remembered is that the topic of this study can be sensitive to some people—causing less participation. Because of this, the individuals who took part in the first survey, for the most part, did not have severe disabilities. Individuals who have extreme disabilities may have given stronger results, but most feel uncomfortable talking about their condition. The similar situation occurred in the second survey, which involved participants who knew or cared for the disabled individual. The majority who were willing to participate knew individuals with not very extreme disorders. This is most likely due to people not feeling very comfortable talking about friends or relatives with severe mental or physical disorders. Lastly, severe disorders are not common, making it even harder to find a lot of test subjects.
Bias was also present in this study. Almost all the students who participated in the surveys were from the Alexander High School Medical Magnet Program. If the population was broadened to include other high school students or non-magnet students there may have been different trends. Had surveys been given to students who did not want to pursue medical careers and exposed to different surroundings, there may have been stronger results.
Further research should include equal numbers of both genders for each survey, therefore, expanding the population to other ages, high schools, and non-magnet students. By doing this, the researcher may be able to obtain a larger amount of willing participants and include a larger variety of disabilities in their study. Additionally, further researchers should try to have an equal number of participants with physical and mental disabilities to allow accurate comparisons.
Even with these limitations present, the initial purpose of this study was still executed by showing that owning a service dog can improve the health of someone who is physically or mentally disabled. This study revealed that owning or interacting with a dog, whether it is service or non-service, does have a positive effect on disabled individuals and, therefore, supports the thesis statement—If someone, who is disabled, owns or interacts with a dog, then their emotional, physical and mental health will be improved.