The role of assistance dogs in society

Assistance dogs are specially trained to undertake a variety of tasks to help individuals with disabilities. This review gives an overview of the different types of assistance dogs in the UK, including guide dogs, hearing dogs, mobility assistance dogs, service dogs and dual purpose dogs. The literature describes many benefits of assistance dogs, including their impact on physical wellbeing and safety of their ‘owners,’ as well as on psychological wellbeing and social inclusion. The role of assistance dogs in society is widely recognized by the public, but is not currently acknowledged in government social policy. The current evidence on the benefits of assistance dogs is limited by the type and scale of current research. This article highlights the need for independent funding for high quality research to enable social care and policy makers to make evidence-based decisions on the value of assistance dogs to people with disabilities

A Systematic Scoping Review: What is the Risk from Child-Dog Interactions to Dog Quality of Life?

There is growing interest in the value of assistance dogs, therapy dogs, and untrained pet dogs, for supporting children with specific needs. Research in this area focuses almost exclusively on the effect of dogs on child well-being and quality of life. The lack of research reporting the role of dog quality of life in this dynamic limits the development of best practice guidelines. Little attention has been paid to the risk from structured and unstructured exposures to children for dog quality of life to best protect the well-being of both parties and maximize the quality of interactions to enhance therapeutic effects. This systematic scoping review searched five databases to address the question ‘what is the risk from child-dog interactions to the quality of life of assistance, therapy and pet dogs?’ The review identified that there is limited specific scientific investment in understanding the relationship between child-dog interactions and dog quality of life. Of the five relevant articles that were identified specifically addressing this issue, two looked at aspects relating to quality of life of dogs living in family homes, (1=pet dogs, 1=trained assistance dogs). The remaining three papers reported factors relevant to quality of life of trained dogs working in structured therapy sessions. Specific child-dog interactions may be important risk factors to consider in relation to dog quality of life, specifically interactions involving unprovoked child attention (e.g., rough contact), interactions and environmental predictability (e.g., meltdowns and recreation time) and child initiated games (e.g., ‘dress up’). Identifying and monitoring the intensity and frequency of these interactions may be important for protecting dog quality of life in the therapeutic and home environment

Tricks and treats: designing technology to support mobility assistance dogs

Assistance dogs are a key intervention to support the autonomy of people with tetraplegia. Previous research on assistive technologies have investigated ways to, ultimately, replace their labour using technology, for instance through the design of smart home environments. However, both the disability studies literature and our interviews suggest there is an immediate need to support these relationships, both in terms of training and bonding. Through a case study of an accessible dog treats dispenser, we investigate a technological intervention responding to these needs, detailing an appropriate design methodology and contributing insights into user requirements and preferences

Taking dogs into the office: A novel strategy for promoting work engagement, commitment and quality of life.

Despite growing interest in “take your dog to work” days and the wellbeing benefits associated with interactions with a friendly dog (e.g., animal-assisted activities), there has been little quantification of the benefits of this. We analyzed responses to work-related (work engagement, turnover intention, work-based friendship acuity, social media use, and work-related quality of life) and dog-related (pet dog attachment and dog general health) scales from 749 employees. The predominantly female sample was comprised of 243 employees who brought their dog to work (167 = “often” brought dog to work; 76 = “sometimes” brought dog to work), the remaining 506 did not bring their dog to work. Employees who “often” took their dog to work reported higher than average work engagement on all factors (vigor, dedication, absorption, total), with significant differences reported in comparison to those who “sometimes” (vigor and total) and “never” (vigor, dedication, absorption, total) took their dog to work. Turnover intention was also significantly lower and work-based friendship acuity higher in the group of employees who “often,” compared to “never,” took their dog to work. Benefits of bringing your dog to work were also observed in terms of work-related quality of life, with higher scores on general wellbeing, home-work interface, job career-satisfaction, control at work, working conditions, and overall work quality of life in those who “often” compared to “never” take their dog to work. Employees who “never” took their dog to work reported lower use of social media during break times. We also identified factors which may be important to consider in developing dogs-in-the-workplace policies; dog-demographics including weight (i.e., size), breed-type, and training may be important to consider in defining the ideal office dog and deserve further research. Given the need to improve employee wellbeing and satisfaction to promote effective business performance and economic gain, these results have important implications for office based businesses considering allowing dogs in the workplace

Evidence of Opportunity and Necessity Driven Entrepreneurship in Nigeria

The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of poverty, unemployment and GDP on entrepreneurship. Time series data for 31 years was collected from various official sources for the analysis. Vector autoregressive (VAR) framework was adopted to systematically capture the rich dynamic of multiple time series. Other tests conducted were unit root test, Johansen and Juselius (1990) co-integration test, Granger causality and dynamic model analysis beyond the sample. It was found that poverty and GDP influence entrepreneurship negatively, while unemployment influences entrepreneurship positively. The paper reveals the presence of both opportunity and necessity driven entrepreneurs in the country. There is a need for the government to revisit the existing policy on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to adequately address the problem of the poor and unemployed by availing them with the opportunity to engage in entrepreneurship. Future study should consider mitigating the effect of frequent entry and exit from entrepreneurship in their data to correctly predict the effect of entrepreneurship on the economy.Celem artykułu jest zbadanie wpływu ubóstwa, bezrobocia i PKB na przedsiębiorczość. Dla potrzeb tej analizy zgromadzono dane za okres trzydziestu jeden lat wykorzystując rozmaite oficjalne źródła. Zastosowano model wektorowej autoregresji (VAR), aby systematycznie ująć bogatą dynamikę wielokrotnych serii czasowych. Inne przeprowadzone testy obejmowały jednostkowy test pierwiastka, test ko-integracji Johansena i Juseliusa (1990), Model przyczynowości Grangera i analizę dynamicznego modelu wykraczającą poza próbkę. Okazało się, że ubóstwo i PKB negatywnie wpływają na przedsiębiorczość, natomiast bezrobocie ma na nią wpływ pozytywny. Artykuł ujawnia zarówno obecność przedsiębiorców wykorzystujących możliwości, jak i tych z konieczności w badanym państwie. Istnieje potrzeba, aby rząd dokonał rewizji swojej polityki dotyczącej mikro-, małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw aby odpowiednio zareagować na problem ludzi biednych i bezrobotnych, dając im możliwość zaangażowania się w przedsiębiorczość. Przyszłe badania powinny zająć się zminimalizowaniem efektu częstego rozpoczynania i kończenia działalności przedsiębiorczej, tak by prawidłowo przewidzieć wpływ przedsiębiorczości na gospodarkę