Marguerite O'Haire

Marguerite O'Haire
Purdue University West Lafayette | Purdue · Department of Comparative Pathobiology (CPB)

PhD

About

72
Publications
39,936
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2,647
Citations
Additional affiliations
February 2014 - July 2014
University of Queensland
Position
  • PostDoc Position

Publications

Publications (72)
Article
Full-text available
The inclusion of animals in therapeutic activities, known as animal-assisted intervention (AAI), has been suggested as a treatment practice for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This paper presents a systematic review of the empirical research on AAI for ASD. Fourteen studies published in peer-reviewed journals qualified for inclusion. The presentati...
Article
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Previous research has demonstrated the capacity of animal presence to stimulate social interaction among humans. The purpose of this study was to examine the interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with an adult and their typically-developing peers in the presence of animals (two guinea pigs) compared to toys. Ninety-nine child...
Article
Fossil evidence indicates an association between human beings and animals dating back at least half a million years. Today, this relationship remains strong, as evidenced by millions of visits to zoos annually, high rates of pet ownership, and the economic prosperity of the pet industry. A review of the literature indicates that human-animal intera...
Article
Importance Military members and veterans (hereafter, veterans) with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increasingly seek psychiatric service dogs as a complementary intervention, yet the effectiveness of service dogs is understudied. Objective To estimate the associations between psychiatric service dog partnership and self-reported and clinicia...
Article
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Introduction Diagnosed in about 10% of children in the United States, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by symptoms including inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Traditional interventions, such as pharmacological and psychological interventions, are often used in conjunction with integrative health options, s...
Article
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Introduction Service dogs are an increasingly popular complementary intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder. However, despite increasing demand, there remains a lack of empirical research on their potential benefits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of service dogs on children with autism and their caregivers....
Article
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Recent literature suggests that service dogs may be a valuable complementary intervention option for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among military veterans due to the potential influence on stress response dysregulation. The aim of this short-term longitudinal study was to quantify the impact of service dogs in US military veterans with PTSD...
Article
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Introduction Service dog placements for autistic children are growing in popularity, yet findings to date are mixed. Moreover, no study to date has examined these placements through the lens of a recognized theoretical model. The purpose of this study is twofold: to explore experiences reported by caretakers of autistic children involved in a servi...
Article
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Objective: Psychiatric service dog placements may benefit psychosocial functioning for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, these effects have never been examined directly in daily life. This nonrandomized longitudinal clinical trial quantified the efficacy of psychiatric service dogs for daily psychosocial functioning among...
Article
Enrichment is important for animal welfare and data quality. Provision of enrichment opportunities varies between species and enrichment category. However, data benchmarking these differences does not exist. Our objective was to characterize enrichment provision and associated factors across species in the US and Canada. Personnel who work with res...
Article
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The field and study of human-animal interaction (HAI) have experienced substantial and ongoing growth in scientific rigor and, public awareness. Yet, considerations for the role of diversity in the field have thus far remained limited, and efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in HAI are critically needed. As one of the first st...
Article
Background: Circumscribed interests (CI) in autism are highly fixated and repetitive interests, generally centering on non-social and idiosyncratic topics. The increased salience of CI objects often results in decreased social attention, thus interfering with social interactions. Behavioural, biomarker and neuroimaging research points to enhanced...
Article
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Background: Benefits and challenges associated with service dogs for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may extend beyond veterans to their families. Objective: The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the impact of veterans' PTSD service dogs on spouses and families in a parallel-group, longitudinal design with assessment...
Article
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Routine surveying of academic centers focused on the human-animal bond is critical to understand the trajectory of the field and to create an environment where centers can learn from one another and build collaborations. The purpose of this manuscript was to report the findings of a survey of these human-animal bond centers, to summarize the status...
Article
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The study of human-animal interaction has increased in the recent decades, with research frequently accomplished through collaboration between academic researchers and human-animal interaction practitioners. While collaborations vary depending on context and characteristics, it is critical for both parties to appreciate the value of collaborative r...
Article
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Psychiatric assistance dogs for military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) currently make up over 19% of assistance dog partnerships globally. We conducted a systematic review of the literature relating to these partnerships, with specific aims to (1) summarize their characteristics, (2) evaluate the quality of existing evidence, a...
Article
The objective of this study was to investigate the day-to-day experiences of positive and negative emotions among partners of veterans assigned service dogs for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As part of a larger clinical trial, a total of N = 87 partners of post-9/11 veterans with PTSD were recruited from a nonprofit service dog provider and...
Article
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Psychiatric service dogs are an emerging complementary intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Initial evidence suggests that partnership with a service dog may be related to less PTSD symptom severity. However, it remains unclear how or why this might occur. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal investigation of 82 post-9...
Preprint
A prominent subtype of restricted and repetitive behaviour or interests (RRBs) in autistic children comprises circumscribed interests (CI). CIs occur in 75-95% of children on the autism spectrum, are highly fixated and repetitive interests and generally center on non-social and idiosyncratic topics. The increased salience of CI objects for autistic...
Article
An increasing number of children's hospitals feature full-time resident facility dogs, which are specially trained to work alongside pediatric healthcare professionals to improve the patient experience. This qualitative study aimed to describe the role that facility dogs play in the lives of patients, families, and hospital staff. A total of N = 73...
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Limited research has documented the benefits of animals for children’s learning and development, with a growing number of elementary school teachers incorporating pets into their classrooms. This study assessed the social, behavioral, and academic effects of the presence of small, resident classroom animals for third and fourth-grade students acros...
Article
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In the last 5 years, the literature on animal-assisted intervention (AAI) for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has doubled in size from 42 studies prior to 2015 to 85 studies (cumulative total assessed in 2020). Horses remain the most commonly researched animal for AAI, followed by dogs. The most commonly researched outcome was social interaction, ac...
Article
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Military deployment and reintegration challenges permeate the lives and relationships of Veterans, their spouses, and their families. Among these challenges, 23% of post-9/11 Veterans have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Psychiatric service dogs have been found to help clinically alleviate PTSD symptoms when used as a comp...
Article
Purpose Mobility and medical alert service dogs are an assistive technology for individuals with disabilities or chronic conditions. Informal caregivers of individuals with disabilities are subject to physical and emotional stress due to their responsibilities. Understanding how service dogs, an increasingly common assistive technology, may add to...
Article
Recent research suggests that service dogs may have clinically relevant benefits for military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the effects of PTSD service dogs on veterans’ medication use have been largely unexplored. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of PTSD service dogs on medication use among a po...
Article
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Objective: The objective of this study was twofold: to describe the benefits and drawbacks of a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) service dog from the perspective of Veterans with service dogs and to compare these reports to the expectations of Veterans who were on a waitlist for a PTSD service dog. Method: A total of 128 U.S. post-9/11 Veteran...
Article
Aims and objectives The present study aimed to examine the effect of working with a facility dog on pediatric healthcare professionals’ work‐related burnout, job perceptions, and mental health. Background Due to their roles caring for ill children and distressed families, pediatric healthcare professionals often experience substantial depression a...
Article
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Beyond the functional tasks that assistance dogs are trained for, there is growing literature describing their benefits on the psychosocial health and wellbeing of their handlers. However, this research is not only widely disparate but, despite its growth, has not been reviewed since 2012. Our objective was to identify, summarize, and methodologica...
Article
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Psychiatric service dogs are an emerging complementary intervention for veterans and military members with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Recent cross‐sectional studies have documented significant, clinically relevant effects regarding service dogs and PTSD symptom severity. However, these studies were conducted using the PTSD Checklist (PCL...
Article
Full-text available
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can have corrosive impacts on family relationships and individual functioning. Emerging evidence has shown that psychiatric service dogs may be an effective complementary treatment for military veterans with PTSD, benefiting veterans’ mental and social health. However, few studies have examined the effects of ps...
Article
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Despite evidence for rat tickling’s animal welfare benefits, the technique is rarely implemented in part because of a lack of training. This study’s purpose was to determine the efficacy of online-only or online + hands-on training programs on key outcomes for rat tickling in comparison to a waitlist control condition. After completing a baseline s...
Article
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Research suggests that psychiatric service dogs may be an effective complementary treatment option for military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although this practice continues to increase in popularity and research has reached the rigor of clinical trials, the components of the PTSD service dog intervention remain largely undef...
Article
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Purpose: To qualitatively describe and compare the expectations and experiences of living with a mobility or medical service dog among those with a physical disability or chronic condition. Materials and methods: A total of 64 participants living with a service dog and 27 on the waitlist to receive a service dog participated in a cross-sectional op...
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Background Visual atypicalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are a well documented phenomenon, beginning as early as 2–6 months of age and manifesting in a significantly decreased attention to the eyes, direct gaze and socially salient information. Early emerging neurobiological deficits in perceiving social stimuli as rewarding or its active...
Article
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Laboratory animal personnel may experience significant stress from working with animals in scientific research. Workplace stress can be assessed by evaluating professional quality of life, which is comprised of compassion fatigue (i.e., burnout and secondary traumatic stress) and compassion satisfaction. This research aimed to explore the associati...
Article
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Introduction Laboratory rat welfare is critically influenced by laboratory animal personnel through their implementation, or lack of implementation, of various enrichment techniques. One such promising technique is heterospecific play, or “rat tickling”, which mimics aspects of rat rough-and-tumble play and can contribute to improving welfare, but...
Article
Importance: A growing body of evidence supports service dogs’ positive psychosocial impact on people with a chronic condition, but very little is known about the effect of service dogs on the family members with whom they live. Objective: To measure the impact that a service dog may have on family member functioning. Design: Cross-sectional with a...
Article
There is preliminary research suggesting that animal-assisted activities can improve social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder. This pilot study sought to investigate the benefits of animal-assisted activities with dogs and psychiatrically hospitalized youth with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were recruited from a speci...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Psychiatric service dogs are increasingly being sought out by military veterans as a complementary intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After receiving a service dog, many veterans continue training their service dog at home. Our objective was to explore the associations between training methods, PTSD severity, servi...
Data
Questionnaire for military veterans. The question scale, question text, response options, and coded response values of the survey given to military veterans about their PTSD service dogs.
Article
Purpose: To evaluate the effects of service dogs on psychosocial health and indicators of wellbeing among individuals with physical disabilities or chronic conditions. Materials and methods: A total of 154 individuals participated in a cross-sectional survey including 97 placed with a mobility or medical service dog and 57 on the waitlist to receiv...
Article
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Academic centers and institutes represent critical hubs for the advancement of areas of scholarly and societal interest. We conducted a survey of 16 academic centers and institutes for human-animal interaction (HAI) in the United States to systematically document the current state of academic interest and investment in the field. Areas of focus inc...
Article
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There is a growing body of research in human-animal interaction (HAI), but the field is often criticized for its lack of methodological rigor and heterogeneous outcome assessment. In addition, there is a scarcity of valid and reliable assessment tools specific to measuring constructs directly related to HAI. As the field continues to develop, there...
Article
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The Observation of Human-Animal Interaction for Research (OHAIRE) is a coding tool developed to capture the behavior of children when interacting with social partners and animals in naturalistic settings. The OHAIRE behavioral categories of focus are emotional displays, social communication behaviors toward adults and peers, behaviors directed towa...
Article
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Recent studies suggest a therapeutic effect of psychiatric service dogs for military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but are limited by self-report biases. The current study assessed the effect of PTSD service dogs on the salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR) and arousal-related functioning in a population of military veter...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: Psychiatric service dogs are an emerging complementary treatment for military members and veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet despite anecdotal accounts of their value, there is a lack of empirical research on their efficacy. The current proof-of-concept study assessed the effects of this practice. Method: A nonran...
Article
Over the past two decades, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), defined as the purposeful incorporation of specially trained animals in services to improve human health, have become increasingly popular in clinical settings. However, to date, there have been few rigorously-designed studies aimed at examining the impact of AAIs on therapy animals,...
Article
Full-text available
The inclusion of animals into interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a growing practice known as animal-assisted intervention (AAI). The choice of the animal to include in an intervention is often solely up to the interventionist and depends on their experience, subjective judgment, and ease of access to different animals...
Article
Including animals in autism intervention is growing in both research and practice. A systematic literature review was conducted to collate and synthesize all empirical research on animal-assisted intervention (AAI) for autism published from 2012 to 2015. Findings from 28 included studies revealed that AAI programs generally include one animal per p...
Article
Recently, the benefits of entomophagy have been widely discussed. Due to western cultures’ reluctance, entomophagy practices are leaning more towards incorporating insects into food products. In this study, whole crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) were hydrolyzed with alcalase at 0.5, 1.5, and 3.0% (w/w) for 30, 60, and 90 minutes. Degree of hydrolysi...
Article
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HABRI Central Briefs are peer-reviewed summaries of particular applications and issues within the field of human-animal interaction. Each Brief presents an overview of the subject matter, assesses the current state of research, then highlights unresolved questions or issues. Key resources are identified for further reading. These Briefs are compile...
Article
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Animals have a long history of inclusion in psychiatric treatment. There has been a recent growth in the empirical study of this practice, known as Animal-Assisted Intervention (AAI). We conducted a systematic review of the empirical literature on AAI for trauma, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ten studies qualified for inclusion, i...
Article
Full-text available
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high rates of social stress and anxious arousal. Preliminary evidence suggests that companion animals can act as buffers against the adverse effects of social stress in adults. We measured continuous physiological arousal in children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children in a social...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate a classroom-based Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) program on social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Design: This was a multisite, control-to-intervention design study. Settings/location: The study was conducted in 41 classrooms in 15 schools in B...
Article
Full-text available
This study investigated the effects of a classroom-based animal-assisted activities (AAA) program with guinea pigs on the social functioning of primary school children. We hypothesized that participants in the experimental condition (n = 64), compared with a waitlist control group (n = 64), would demonstrate improvements in social functioning follo...
Article
Introduction Autism has been highlighted as a pressing public health issue that may be ameliorated through the inclusion of animals in autism treatment services, also known as animal-assisted intervention. Over the past 20 years, only a few studies have empirically examined the impact of therapeutic interactions with animals for individuals with au...
Data
Observation of Human-Animal Interaction for Research (OHAIRE). Behavior coding definitions. (DOCX)
Article
Full-text available
Autism has been highlighted as a pressing public health issue that may be ameliorated through the inclusion of animals in autism treatment services, also known as animal- assisted intervention. Over the past 20 years, only a few studies have empirically examined the impact of therapeutic interactions with animals for individuals with autism. A revi...
Article
One of the leading causes of injury in children and companion animals is interspecies violence. Animal violence against humans (e.g., dog bites) and human violence against animals (e.g., animal abuse) are prevalent problems worldwide. Many of these incidences may be preventable. Animal violence towards humans can stem from a lack of knowledge of sa...

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