PROJECT TITLE:
Can dogs predict epileptic seizures?
INVESTIGATOR:
Neil Powell, School of Psychology, Queens University Belfast. Supervised by Prof Peter Hepper.
INVESTMENT:
€2,500 for one year (2017), part supporting the study which will run until 2020.
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
The aim of the study is to examine whether untrained family pet dogs are able to predict epileptic seizures and to identify the trigger mechanisms used.
The lack of a warning prior to the onset of a seizure significantly increases the risk of physical harm and in general contributes to the psychological problems faced by individuals who experience this. Some warning that might alert the individual to the onset of a seizure, even a short notification period, may provide the individual with the opportunity to avoid accidents and may also considerably increase the individual’s sense of control over their lives, conferring benefits to psychological well-being.
One possible alerting mechanism is by untrained dogs. A number of studies have reported that untrained dogs ‘alert’ (alter their behaviour) to their owners prior to the onset of an epileptic seizure. Whilst some studies have demonstrated that dogs can be trained to ‘alert’ to seizures identifying whether untrained dogs can do this may advance our ability to understand the ‘cues’ used by dogs (there may be many), understand why some/all dogs can do this, develop methods for individuals to shape their own animal’s behaviour and to help in the prediction of seizure onset.
The research project is designed to increase our understanding of how a dog may alert to the onset of a seizure in its owner and use this to provide the individual with epilepsy with a means to identify the onset of a seizure and take appropriate action to control the situation
Elucidation of the cues used by dogs to the onset of a seizure, will lead to a greater understanding of canine alerting behaviour and so enable individuals to shape the behaviour of their dogs in a cost effective manner to reliably alert to seizure onset.
Properly trained seizure alert dogs would provide individuals with greater control over their lives and improve their physical and psychological well-being and potentially reduce the risk of physical harm and death. Further beneficial consequences would be an improvement in mental health and well-being, reduced feelings of anxiety and depression; increased opportunities for engaging in normal activities and thus a reduction of stigma and increasing social inclusion which can contribute to positive changes in public attitude; the possibility of improved management and treatment options.
Results
