A British study assures that the presence of pets during confinement reduced psychological stress.
- In a study carried out by two British universities, 90% of participants out of 6,000 say that their pet has helped them cope better with confinement.
- However, 68% of them were also distressed by restricted access to veterinary clinics in case their animal fell ill.
- Relief from anxiety and stress depends on the human-animal bond, not the nature of the pet. A guinea pig or a goldfish has as much effect on the mental health of its owner as a cat or a dog.
Dogs, cats, rabbits are man’s best friends and even more so during confinement. This is the result of the study conducted by British researchers from the universities of York and Lincoln (UK) and published on September 25 on their Internet portal. According to them, “having a pet was linked to maintaining better mental health and reducing loneliness” and most of the participants claim to have realized this. For these owners, pets was “tremendous support” especially during the British confinement from March 23 to 1er last June.
Ninety percent of the 6,000 study participants had at least one pet. Despite their different nature,he strength of the human-animal bond does not seem to differ significantly between species, the most common pets — like cats or dogs —, small mammals — like hamsters or rabbits — or even fish. Over 90% of people surveyed said their pet helped them “coping emotionally with confinement” and 96% said their pet helped them”to stay fit and active”.
Strength of the human-animal bond
However, these animals do not only bring comfort: 68% of owners said “to worry” for their animals during confinement. One of the reasons put forward was for example the fear of a restriction of access to veterinary care in the event of illness of the animal. “The results of this study also demonstrated potential links between people’s mental health and the emotional bonds they form with their pets: measures of human-animal bond strength were higher in people who reported lower for mental health outcomes at baselineanalyzes Dr. Elena Ratschen, lead author and researcher in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. We also found that in this study, the strength of the emotional bond with pets did not differ statistically across animal species, meaning that people in our sample felt on average as emotionally close to, say, their guinea pig. than their dog. It will be important to ensure that pet owners receive appropriate support to care for their pet during the pandemic.”
“This work is particularly important at this time because it shows how having a pet in your home can alleviate some of the associated psychological stress. However, it’s important that everyone appreciates their pet’s needs as well, as our other work shows that failure to meet them can have a detrimental effect on people and their pets.assures Daniel Mills, co-author of the study and professor at the School of Biology at the University of Lincoln. Although our study has shown that having a pet can mitigate some of the adverse psychological effects of Covid-19-induced confinement, it is important to understand that this finding is unlikely to have clinical significance. In any case, it in no way means that people should acquire pets to protect their mental health during the pandemic.”
According to academics, over 40% of UK households own at least one pet. In the absence of dogs or cats with whom to share one’s life, the study underlines that the most popular interaction with animals – not domesticated – is the observation of birds: nearly 55% of the participants declared observing and feeding the birds in their garden.
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