<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p><italic>This article describes the second of a two-part study that examined the effects of a guide dog as an aid to mobility. The first part, which is also published in this issue, showed that dogs were perceived to significantly improve travel performance, irrespective of the participants’ orientation and mobility skills before receiving the dog. The second part of the study describes the changes a dog makes to travel habits. In this second part, the travel habits of 50 people who were blind or vision impaired were examined retrospectively before and after they received a dog. The results indicate that dogs were used more frequently than other mobility aids except when it was more convenient to use a human guide or a long cane, as for example on a very short journey. People travelled independently more often and went further, with greater ease and enjoyment when travelling with a dog. The use of a dog appeared to reduce problems with access and the need to avoid certain journeys. However, dogs also caused difficulties, especially in social situations where they were not welcomed, and in crowded, cramped or dog-populated environments. More advantages than disadvantages were identified when comparing a dog to other mobility aids</italic>.</p>
</abstract>

This article describes the second of a two-part study that examined the effects of a guide dog as an aid to mobility. The first part, which is also published in this issue, showed that dogs were perceived to significantly improve travel performance, irrespective of the participants’ orientation and mobility skills before receiving the dog. The second part of the study describes the changes a dog makes to travel habits. In this second part, the travel habits of 50 people who were blind or vision impaired were examined retrospectively before and after they received a dog. The results indicate that dogs were used more frequently than other mobility aids except when it was more convenient to use a human guide or a long cane, as for example on a very short journey. People travelled independently more often and went further, with greater ease and enjoyment when travelling with a dog. The use of a dog appeared to reduce problems with access and the need to avoid certain journeys. However, dogs also caused difficulties, especially in social situations where they were not welcomed, and in crowded, cramped or dog-populated environments. More advantages than disadvantages were identified when comparing a dog to other mobility aids.

The Guide Dog as a Mobility Aid Part 2: Perceived Changes to Travel Habits

Vision Rehabilitation International

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The Guide Dog as a Mobility Aid Part 2: Perceived Changes to Travel Habits"}

This article describes the second of a two-part study that examined the effects of a guide dog as an aid to mobility. The first part, which is also published...

The Guide Dog as a Mobility Aid Part 2: Perceived Changes to Travel Habits

Published Online: Jan 01, 2008

Page range: 34 - 45

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/ijom-2008-004

© 2008 Janice K.F. Lloyd et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Table 1.

Table 2.