Abstract
Objective
: To investigate the association between Service Dog Training Program (SDTP) participation
and mental healthcare utilization.
Design
: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting
: Outpatient rehabilitation clinic at a large Military Treatment Facility (MTF).
Participants
: Military Health System (MHS) beneficiaries who attended at least one SDTP session
at a large MTF (N=597). SDTP program enrollment records identified subjects.
Intervention
: The SDTP, a unique application of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), is intended to improve
the mental and cognitive health for individuals with war-related trauma.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
: Negative binomial regression calculated the associations between the SDTP participation
rate and two mental healthcare utilization outcomes: mental health encounter days
and psychotropic medication months’ supply.
Results
: Most of the 597 participants were male, enlisted service members, aged 25 to 34 years.
Approximately 46% had a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis, 21% had a
traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnosis, 47% had an opioid prescription, and 58% had
a sleep aid prescription pre-SDTP participation. Participation was categorized into
low (≤1 sessions), medium (>1 and ≤2 sessions), and high (>2 sessions) monthly participation.
In adjusted analysis, high monthly SDTP participation was associated with 18% fewer
post-SDTP mental health encounter days (RR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68-0.96), as compared
to low monthly SDTP participation. High monthly SDTP participation was also associated
with a 22% fewer post-SDTP psychotropic prescription months’ supply (RR 0.78, 95%
CI: 0.64-0.95), as compared to low monthly SDTP participation in adjusted analysis.
Conclusions
: Results suggest that subjects who attend more than two SDTP sessions monthly encounter
mental healthcare differently post-SDTP than subjects who attended one or fewer monthly
sessions. Adjunct therapies, such as the SDTP, may offer patients a non-stigmatizing
way to engage in mental healthcare.
Key Words
List of abbreviations:
AAT (Animal Assisted Therapy), ADSM (Active Duty Service Members), CI (Confidence Interval), IQR (Interquartile Range), MDR (Military Health System Data Repository), MHS (Military Health System), MTF (Military Treatment Facility), PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), RR (Rate Ratio), SDTP (Service Dog Training Program), TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
July 17,
2022
Received in revised form:
July 14,
2022
Received:
February 14,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
