Guide dogs for people with vision loss

A guide dog is a specially trained dog that has been trained to help a person with visual impairment. The guide dog can lead past obstacles, indicate stairs and edges and more.

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

Question

What systematic reviews are there on the effect of guide dogs on people with vision disorders?

Identified literature

No relevant systematic review was identified but nine primary studies were identified [1–9]. The primary studies were not assessed for risk of bias.

References

  1. Clark-Carter DD, Heyes AD, Howarth CI. The efficiency and walking speed of visually impaired people. Ergonomics 1986;29:779-789.
  2. Gitlin LN, Mount J, Lucas W, Weirich LC, Gramberg L. The physical costs and psychosocial benefits of travel aids for persons who are visually impaired or blind. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness 1997;91:347-359.
  3. Glenk LM, Přibylová L, Stetina BU, Demirel S, Weissenbacher K. Perceptions on Health Benefits of Guide Dog Ownership in an Austrian Population of Blind People with and without a Guide Dog. Animals (2076-2615) 2019;9:428-428.
  4. Lieberman LJ, Haibach-Beach PS, Sherwood J, Trad A. "We now fly": Perspectives of adults who are blind with guide dogs trained for running. British Journal of Visual Impairment 2019;37:213-226.
  5. Mariko Y, Yamamoto MM, Hart LA. Physical Activity and Welfare of Guide Dogs and Walking Activity of Their Partners. Anthrozoos 2015;28:277-289.
  6. Mount J, Gitlin LN, Howard PD. Musculoskeletal consequences of travel aid use among visually impaired adults: Directions for future research and training. Technology and Disability 1997;6:159-167.
  7. Wirth KE, Rein DB. The economic costs and benefits of dog guides for the blind. Ophthalmic Epidemiology 2008;15:92-98.
  8. Deverell L, Bradley J, Foote P, Bowden M, Meyer D. Measuring the Benefits of Guide Dog Mobility with the Orientation and Mobility Outcomes (OMO) Tool. Anthrozoos 2019;32:741-755.
  9. Whitmarsh L. The Benefits of Guide Dog Ownership. Visual Impairment Research 2005;7:27-42. 
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Published: Report no: ut201941 Registration no: SBU 2019/699
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Literature search

Embase via Embase.com 2019-11-29
Guide dogs for people with vision loss
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts.; /de = Term from the EMTREE controlled vocabulary; /exp = Includes terms found below this term in the EMTREE hierarchy; /mj = Major Topic; :ab = Abstract; :au = Author; :ti = Article Title; :ti,ab = Title or abstract; * = Truncation; ’ ’ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. 'visual impairment'/exp OR 'visual disorder'/exp OR 'visually impaired person'/exp 249,108
2. (Blind OR Blindness):ti,ab 286,792
3. ((No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder$) NEAR/3 (vision OR visual* OR eye$ OR sight OR acuity)):ti,ab 109,672
4. 1 OR 2 OR 3 552,407
Intervention:
5. ‘guide dog$’:ti,ab,kw 154
6. ((guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') NEAR/3 dog$):ti,ab 628
7. (‘service dog$’ OR ‘assistance dog$’):ti,ab,kw 252
8. 6 OR 7 810
Study types:
9. [cochrane review]/lim OR [systematic review]/lim OR [meta analysis]/lim 326,461
10. ‘systematic review’/exp OR ‘meta analysis’/exp 316,146
11. ((systematic* NEAR/3 review) OR 'meta analy*' OR metaanaly*):ab,ti,kw 325,157
12. 9 OR 10 OR 11 417,749
Combined sets:
13. 4 AND 8 278
14. 5 OR 13 325
15. 12 AND 14 0
Final 14 325

 

CINAHL via Ebsco.com 2019-11-29
Guide dogs for people with vision loss
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts.; AB = Abstract; AU = Author; DE = Term from the thesaurus; MM = Major Concept; TI = Title; TX = All Text. Performs a keyword search of all the database's searchable fields; ZC = Methodology Index; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase; HTA = Health Technology Assessments
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. (MH "Vision Disorders+") OR (MH "Rehabilitation of Vision Impaired+") OR (MH "Blindness+") 17,092
2. (TI (Blind OR blindness)) OR (AB (Blind OR blindness)) 47,129
3. (TI (No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder#) W3 (vision OR visual* OR eye# OR sight OR acuity)) OR (AB (No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder#) W3 (vision OR visual* OR eye# OR sight OR acuity)) 7,633
4. 1 OR 2 OR 3 66,401
Intervention:
5. TI guide dog# OR AB guide dog# OR MW guide dog# 91
6. (TI (guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') W3 dog#) OR (AB (guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') W3 dog#) 73
7. (TI (service dog# OR assistance dog#) OR (AB (service dog# OR assistance dog#) OR (MW (service dog# OR assistance dog#) 182
8. 6 OR 7 247
Study types:
9. (MH "Systematic Review") OR (MH "Cochrane Library") OR (MH "Meta Analysis") 100,703
10. (TI (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) OR (AB (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) OR (MW (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) 150,058
11. 9 OR 10 152,609
Combined sets:
12. 4 AND 8 46
13. 5 OR 12 97
14. 11 AND 13 0
Final 13 97

 

PsycINFO via Ebsco.com 2019-11-29
Guide dogs for people with vision loss
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts; AB = Abstract; AU = Author; DE = Term from the thesaurus; MM = Major Concept; TI = Title; TX = All Text. Performs a keyword search of all the database's searchable fields; ZC = Methodology Index; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. DE "Vision Disorders" OR DE "Blind" OR DE "Blindsight" OR DE "Eye Disorders" OR DE "Partially Sighted" 13,683
2. (TI (Blind OR blindness)) OR (AB (Blind OR blindness)) 44,589
3. (TI (No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder#) W3 (vision OR visual* OR eye# OR sight OR acuity)) OR (AB (No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder#) W3 (vision OR visual* OR eye# OR sight OR acuity)) 12,362
4. 1 OR 2 OR 3 62,459
Intervention:
5. TI guide dog# OR AB guide dog# OR MW guide dog# 143
6. (TI (guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') W3 dog#) OR (AB (guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') W3 dog#) 125
7. (TI (service dog# OR assistance dog#) OR (AB (service dog# OR assistance dog#) OR (MW (service dog# OR assistance dog#) 193
8. 6 OR 7 304
Study types:
9. DE "Systematic Review" OR DE "Meta Analysis" 4,714
10. (TI (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) OR (AB (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) OR (MW (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) 58,232
11. 9 OR 10 58,235
Combined sets:
12. 4 AND 8 74
13. 5 OR 12 156
14. 11 AND 13 1
Final 13 156

 

Academic Search Elite via Ebsco.com 2019-11-29
Guide dogs for people with vision loss
The search result, usually found at the end of the documentation, forms the list of abstracts.; AB = Abstract; AU = Author; DE = Term from the thesaurus; MM = Major Concept; TI = Title; TX = All Text. Performs a keyword search of all the database's searchable fields; ZC = Methodology Index; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. (((DE "VISION disorders") OR (DE "BLIND")) OR (DE "BLINDSIGHT (Visual perception)")) OR (DE "PEOPLE with visual disabilities") 17,260
2. (TI (Blind OR blindness)) OR (AB (Blind OR blindness)) 108,421
3. (TI (No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder#) W3 (vision OR visual* OR eye# OR sight OR acuity)) OR (AB (No OR loss OR reduc* OR impair* OR bad OR low* OR disorder#) W3 (vision OR visual* OR eye# OR sight OR acuity)) 25,265
4. 1 OR 2 OR 3 141,391
Intervention:
5. TI guide dog# OR AB guide dog# OR MW guide dog# 646
6. (TI (guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') W3 dog#) OR (AB (guid* OR blind* OR 'seeing eye') W3 dog#) 788
7. (TI (service dog# OR assistance dog#) OR (AB (service dog# OR assistance dog#) OR (MW (service dog# OR assistance dog#) 807
8. 6 OR 7 1,542
Study types:
9. DE "Systematic Review" OR DE "Meta Analysis" 13,692
10. (TI (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) OR (AB (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) OR (MW (systematic* W3 review) OR meta analy* OR metaanaly*) 159,750
11. 9 OR 10 160,462
Combined sets:
12. 4 AND 8 326
13. 5 OR 12 757
14. 11 AND 13 1
Final 13 757
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