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

<p>The value of dog guides in terms of mobility for people with severe vision impairment and blindness is well recognised. There has, however, been a paucity of research exploring the potential health benefits of working with dog guides. This article reports the initial stage of a research project, which aimed at redressing this dearth of research. The study used three focus groups to explore the experiences of 22 participants from three Australian states. The focus group meetings were the first of three components of a major research project into this important issue. The outcomes reflected a self-reported trend toward enhanced health and wellbeing for people who use dog guides as their primary mobility aid.</p>
</abstract>

The value of dog guides in terms of mobility for people with severe vision impairment and blindness is well recognised. There has, however, been a paucity of research exploring the potential health benefits of working with dog guides. This article reports the initial stage of a research project, which aimed at redressing this dearth of research. The study used three focus groups to explore the experiences of 22 participants from three Australian states. The focus group meetings were the first of three components of a major research project into this important issue. The outcomes reflected a self-reported trend toward enhanced health and wellbeing for people who use dog guides as their primary mobility aid.

There’s more to a dog guide than meets the eye: A preliminary exploration of potential health benefits of dog guide use

Vision Rehabilitation International

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

The value of dog guides in terms of mobility for people with severe vision impairment and blindness is well recognised. There has, however, been a paucity of...

There’s more to a dog guide than meets the eye: A preliminary exploration of potential health benefits of dog guide use

Published Online: Jan 01, 2017

Page range: 27 - 36

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/ijom-2017-065

© 2017 Geraldine Lane et al., published by Sciendo

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