By Kevin Doerr and CTSI Staff Reports:
Kerri Rodriguez, human-animal interaction graduate student (left), and Maggie O’Haire, assistant professor of human-animal interaction in the College of Veterinary Medicine, look at cortisol samples. Cortisol was one of the measurements used in a new study that shows how veterans with PTSD may benefit physiologically from using service dogs. (Purdue University photo/ Kevin Doerr)
Indiana CTSI-supported researchers at Purdue University have recently published a new study that shows how veterans with PTSD may benefit physiologically from using service dogs.
The study was led by Maggie O’Haire, assistant professor of human-animal interaction in the Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine, and Kerri Rodriguez, a human-animal interaction graduate student in the school. Dr. O’Haire is a 2016-2018 recipient of the Indiana CTSI’s K Award, and Rodriguez is a 2017 recipient of the CTSI’s T Award; both awards are translational research fellowships to support early-career investigators.
Their findings, which represent the first published research to use a physiological marker to define the biobehavioral effects of service dogs on veterans with PTSD, were published April 26 in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Read more.
