Pet Ownership and Attachment as Supportive Factors in the Health of the Elderly

Garrity, Thomas F.; Stallones, Lorann; Marx, Martin B.; Johnson, Timothy P.

doi:10.2752/089279390787057829

Cited by 340 publications

(232 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Two studies of the elderly found that greater attachment to one's pet was associated with better mental health (Garrity et al, 1989;Ory & Goldberg, 1983), and attachment was associated with better physical health when human companionship was inadequate (Garrity et al, 1989). Moreover, a survey of elderly persons yielded reports of greater pet involvement if the pet was a dog than a cat (Lago, Knight, & Connell, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several epidemiologic studies (Comstock & Helsing, 1976;Frerichs, Aneshensel, & Clark, 1981 ;Husaini, Neff, Harrington, Hughes, & Stone, 1980) found the scale sensitive to differences in level of depressed mood. The CES-D has adequate validity (content, criterion-based, and construc0 and reliability (test-retest and internal consistency; Radloff, 1977;Weissman, Shoiomskas, Pottenger, Prusoff, & Locke, 1977) and has been used previously with aged populations (Berkman et al, 1986;Garrity et al, 1989;Murrell, Himmelfarb, & Wright, 1983).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership.

Siegel¹

1990

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

366

218

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The physician utilization behavior of 938 Medicare enrollees in a health maintenance organization was prospectively followed for 1 year. With demographic characteristics and health status at baseline controlled for, respondents who owned pets reported fewer doctor contacts over the 1-year period than respondents who did not own pets. Furthermore, pets seemed to help their owners in times of stress. The accumulation of prebaseline stressful life events was associated with increased doctor contacts during the study year for respondents without pets. This relationship did not emerge for pet owners. Owners of dogs, in particular, were buffered from the impact of stressful life events on physician utilization. Additional analyses showed that dog owners in comparison to owners of other pets spent more time with their pets and felt that their pets were more important to them. Thus, dogs more than other pets provided their owners with companionship and an object of attachment.Current and projected demand by the elderly for health care services has prompted the study of their physician utilization behavior. These studies and others show that factors in addition to physical health status influence decisions to use medical services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership.

Siegel¹

1990

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

366

218

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This last issue is particularly important given that immigrant older people are at greater risk of experiencing social isolation, loneliness and reduced social participation (Stephens, Alpass, Towers, & Stevenson, 2011;de Jong Gierveld, Van Tilbur, & Dykstra, 2006) and that those who are more socially integrated tend to live longer (Antonucci et al, 2014). Accordingly, there is evidence to suggest that pet ownership can directly enhance health and wellbeing or indirectly act as a buffer against stressful events, particularly for older people (Garrity, Stallones, Marx & Johnson, 1989;Winefield, Black, & Chur-Hansen, 2008). …”

Section: Working Towards Ageing Well In and Around Rosewood Towersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ageing well in the right place: partnership working with older people

Sixsmith

Fang

Woolrych

et al. 2017

WWOP

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Special issue entitled "Psychologies of Ageing: Research, Policy and Practice". AbstractPurpose: The provision of home and community supports can enable people to successfully age-inplace by improving physical and mental health, supporting social participation and enhancing independence, autonomy and choice. One challenge concerns the integration of place-based supports available as older people transition into affordable housing. Sustainable solutions need to be developed and implemented with the full involvement of communities, service organisations and older people themselves. Partnership building is an important component of this process. This article details the intricacies of developing partnerships with low-income older people, local service providers and nonprofit housing associations in the context of a Canadian housing development. Approach:A Community Based Participatory Approach was used to inform the data collection and partnership building process. The partnership building process progressed through a series of democratized committee meetings based on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, four collaboration cafés with nonprofit housing providers, and four community mapping workshops with low-income older people. Data collection also involved 25 interviews and 15 photovoice sessions with the housing residents. The common aims of partnership and data collection were to: (i) understand the challenges and opportunities experienced by older people, service providers and nonprofit housing providers; (ii) identify the perspectives of service providers and nonprofit housing providers for the provision and delivery of senior-friendly services and resources; and (iii) determine actions that can be undertaken to better meet the needs of service providers and nonprofit housing providers in order to help them better serve older people. Findings:The partnership prioritised the generation of a shared vision together with shared values, interests and the goal of co-creating meaningful housing solutions for older people transitioning into affordable housing. Input from interviews and photovoice sessions with older people provided material to inform decision making in support of ageing well in the right place.Attention to issues of power dynamics and knowledge generation and feedback mechanisms enable all fields of expertise to be taken into account, including the experiential expertise of older residents. This resulted in functional, physical, psychological and social aspects of ageing in place to inform the new build housing complex. Limitations:The time and effort required to conduct democratized partnerships slowed the decision making process. Originality:The findings confirm that the drive toward community partnerships is a necessary process in supporting older people to age well in the right place. This requires sound mechanisms to include the voice of older people themselves alongside other relevant stakeholders. Ageing well in a housing complex requires meaningful placemaking to include the functional, phy...

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“…Empirical research of HAI, including studies of pet ownership and animal-assisted therapy, suggests potential human outcomes may include improvements in psychiatric symptomatology, psychological states, and social behavior (e.g., Garrity, Stallones, Marx, & Johnson, 1987;Hecht, McMillan, & Silverman, 2001). Studies researching these psychosocial effects of HAI are particularly common in institutional settings such as inpatient psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes (Johnson, Odendaal, & Meadows, 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human-Animal Interaction in a Prison Setting: Impact on Criminal Behavior, Treatment Progress, and Social Skills

2007

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This quasi-experimental field study evaluated the effects of a forensic humananimal interaction (HAI) program on the criminal behavior of prison inmates. The study assessed the impact of the HAI program using between-subject methods and analyses. A total of 48 male inmates participated in the research by allowing researchers access to their institutional files and completing self-report measures. In general, it was hypothesized the HAI program would result in positive behavioral and psychosocial outcomes for inmates. Dependent measures included the frequency of institutional infractions, inmate treatment level within the prison's therapeutic community, and social skills. Analyses compared two groups of inmates in a pretest-posttest repeated-measures design, comparing a Treatment group with a Control group. Results indicated that inmates in the Treatment group evidenced statistically significant improvements in these dependent measures in comparison to the Control group.

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Pet Ownership and Attachment as Supportive Factors in the Health of the Elderly

Cited by 340 publications

References 31 publications

Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership.

Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership.

Ageing well in the right place: partnership working with older people

Human-Animal Interaction in a Prison Setting: Impact on Criminal Behavior, Treatment Progress, and Social Skills

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