First responders (e.g. police, firefighters, paramedics) experience significant and varied stressors in their personal and professional lives (Carleton et al. 2018a, Carleton et al. 2018b) and may be more vulnerable to psychological problems as a result (Komarovskaya et al. 2011). The use of support canines aids in mitigating psychological distress (Krause-Parello and Morales 2018); however, scant research exists on the effect of this support resource among first responders. The current study aimed to (1) assess first responders’ general endorsement of having support canines in their workplace and identify first responder characteristics that predict endorsement and (2) determine whether first responders from sites with (vs. without) support canines demonstrate better psychological wellness and psychological help-seeking. Participants included 140 first responders (64.3% males, 45.0% police officers) who completed measures of mental health (DASS-21; Lovibond and Lovibond 1995), psychological help-seeking (IASMHS; Mackenzie et al. 2004), and canine attitudes and experience with support canines (author developed). Results identified low levels of mental health symptoms overall, which did not significantly differ between participants from organizations with and without canine support. Participants were more receptive to having support canines when they had more positive attitudes towards canines in general. Although access to canine support animals did not appear to influence the overall psychological wellness of first responders on quantitative measures, qualitative data suggests that these animals may provide temporary stress relief benefits that require further empirical investigation.

急救人员（例如警察、消防员、护理人员）在他们的个人和职业生活中承受着巨大而多样的压力（Carleton et al. 2018a，Carleton et al. 2018b），因此可能更容易受到心理问题的影响（Komarovskaya et al. 2011）。使用辅助犬有助于减轻心理困扰（Krause-Parello 和 Morales 2018）；然而，关于这种支持资源对急救人员的影响的研究很少。目前的研究旨在 (1) 评估急救人员对在其工作场所拥有支持犬的普遍认可，并确定预测认可的急救人员特征，以及 (2) 确定来自有（与没有）支持犬的站点的急救人员是否表现出更好的心理健康和心理求助。参与者包括 140 名急救人员（64.3% 男性，45.0% 警察），他们完成了心理健康测量（DASS-21；Lovibond 和 Lovibond 1995）、心理求助（IASMHS；Mackenzie 等人 2004）以及犬类态度和支持犬类的经验（作者开发）。结果确定总体上精神健康症状水平较低，这在来自有和没有犬类支持的组织的参与者之间没有显着差异。当参与者总体上对犬科动物有更积极的态度时，他们更容易接受支持犬科动物。尽管获得犬类支持动物似乎不会影响急救人员在定量测量方面的整体心理健康状况，