Current Perspectives on the Challenges of Implementing Assistance Dogs in Human Mental Health Care

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Accounting for the global rise in mental health disorders, sustainable therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. However, despite the increasing interest in dogs that support their owners with a mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or autism, some issues including inconsistent use of terminology and the variability or lack of certification procedures across countries have remained unresolved. Moreover, to date, only few studies have addressed the tasks these dogs accomplish and there is only little information available on the canine welfare status related to the performance in human mental health support. This scoping review stresses the need for stringent procedures in legislation, certification, training of desired tasks and animal welfare management practices. Considering the challenges associated with a mental health diagnosis, collaborations of dog provider organizations and health care professionals would be desirable to continuously assess the efficiency of the human-dog dyad regarding their overall compatibility, general satisfaction and mutual well-being. ABSTRACT: The prevalence of mental health disorders, driven by current global crises, is notably high. During the past decades, the popularity of dogs assisting humans with a wide spectrum of mental health disorders has significantly increased. Notwithstanding these dogs’ doubtless value, research on their legal status, certification processes, training and management practices, as well as their welfare status, has been scarce. This scoping review highlights that in contrast to other assistance dogs such as guide dogs, there exists no consistent terminology to mark dogs that assist humans with impaired mental health. Legal authorities monitoring the accreditation process, training and tracking of mental health supporting dogs are broadly lacking, with only few exceptions. This review emphasizes the need to address several topics in the promotion of progress in legal and welfare issues related to assistance dogs as well as emotional support dogs for humans with a mental health disorder. The current body of knowledge was assessed in three different areas of focus: (1) the legal dimension including definitions and certification processes; (2) the dimension of performed tasks; and (3) the dog welfare dimension including aspects of the relationship with the handler and risks associated with children recipients. Considering the challenges associated with a mental health diagnosis, collaborations of dog provider organizations and health care professionals would be desirable to continuously assess the efficiency of the human-dog dyad regarding their overall compatibility, general satisfaction and mutual well-being.