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Cardiovascular Reactivity and the Presence of Pets, Friends, and Spouses: The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the presence of friends, spouses, and pets on cardiovascular reactivity to psychological and physical stress.
Cardiovascular reactivity was examined among 240 married couples, half of whom owned a pet. Mental arithmetic and cold pressor were performed in one of four randomly assigned social support conditions: alone, with pet or friend (friend present for non-pet owners), with spouse, with spouse and pet/friend.
Relative to people without pets, people with pets had significantly lower heart rate and blood pressure levels during a resting baseline, significantly smaller increases (ie, reactivity) from baseline levels during the mental arithmetic and cold pressor, and faster recovery. Among pet owners, the lowest reactivity and quickest recovery was observed in the pet-present conditions.
People perceive pets as important, supportive parts of their lives, and significant cardiovascular and behavioral benefits are associated with those perceptions.
... Several hypotheses have been proposed that may explain the potential relationship between pet ownership and CVD. First, it is hypothesized that the pet ownership-CVD association is mediated by psychological and physiological changes that occur when a pet is present (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). For example, Allen et al. (7) found that the increase of heart rate and blood pressure while performing challenging math problems was significantly smaller among people who had their pet present than those without their pet present. ...
... First, it is hypothesized that the pet ownership-CVD association is mediated by psychological and physiological changes that occur when a pet is present (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). For example, Allen et al. (7) found that the increase of heart rate and blood pressure while performing challenging math problems was significantly smaller among people who had their pet present than those without their pet present. In 1993, Patronek and Glickman (10) coined the term "pet preventable fraction" as the percent of myocardial infarctions and death that pet ownership could prevent. ...
... For example, blood vessel responses to stress are impaired as people age due to vascular aging (39). Several experimental studies have found an association between pet ownership and cardiovascular parameters among adults, especially blood pressure and heart rate (7,40,41). Maintaining a healthy blood pressure can reduce the rate of vascular aging (42,44). As pet ownership was associated with blood pressure reductions in several studies, pets may help reduce the rate of vascular aging in people as they age. ...
Studies examining associations between pet ownership and cardiovascular disease have yielded inconsistent results. These discrepancies may be partially explained by variations in age and sex across study populations. Our study included 6,632 American Gut Project participants who are US residents ≥40 years. We first estimated the association of pet ownership with cardiovascular disease risk using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, and further investigated effect modifications of age and sex. Cat but not dog ownership was significantly associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk (OR: 0.56 [0.42, 0.73] and OR: 1.17 [0.88, 1.39], respectively). Cat and dog ownership significantly interacted with age but not sex, indicating that cardiovascular risk varies by the age-by-pet ownership combination. Compared to the reference group (40-64 years, no cat or dog), participants 40-64 years with only a cat had the lowest cardiovascular disease risk (OR: 0.40 [0.26, 0.61]). Those ≥65 years with no pets had the highest risk (OR: 3.85 [2.85, 5.24]). This study supports the importance of pets in human cardiovascular health, suggesting optimal pet choice is age-dependent. Having both a cat and dog can be advantageous to people ≥65 years, while having only a cat may benefit those 40-64 years. Further studies are needed to assess causality.
... Extending the concept of attachment to pets to nonowned animals such as foster dogs has implications for the emotional health and retention of foster volunteers. Research over decades has found that the presence of and interaction with animals can improve physical and mental health, reduce stress and anxiety, and meet human needs for emotional contact (Allen, et al., 2002;Aragunde-Kohl, et al., 2020;Fine, 2014;Garrity, et al., 1989;Wells, 2007Wells, , 2019Yolken, et al., 2019). Such benefits have been noted as the "pet-effect" (Allen, 2003;Janssens, 2020). ...
... Some work on companion animals in psychotherapy has suggested that the close relationships engendered by ownership may be necessary to achieve health benefits (Friedman & Krause-Parello, 2018). But, ownership of a pet may not be required to reap some of the benefits of interacting with animals (Allen, et al., 2002;Salmon & Salmon, 1982;Viau, et al., 2010;Wright, et al., 2015) although there appears to be a lower release of oxytocin when petting an unfamiliar dog (Odendaal & Meintjes, 2003). Research has indicated that walking a dog can facilitate human social interactions (Adams, et al., 2011), the benefits of which may accrue regardless of dog ownership. ...
... Research has indicated that walking a dog can facilitate human social interactions (Adams, et al., 2011), the benefits of which may accrue regardless of dog ownership. Stress responses can be reduced when dogs are present which can be expected to occur whether a dog is owned or exposure is shorter term (Allen, et al., 2002;Motooka, et al., 2006). People simply living with an animal (regardless of specific types of interactions) feel more peaceful, an outcome that may be present even if the dog is not owned (Aragunde-Kohl, 2020). ...
A common challenge for animal shelters/rescues is retaining volunteers that provide foster care for animals in their homes. This research investigated how animal shelters and rescues might better support volunteer dog fosters by examining the extent and role of attachment to the foster dog, the emotional challenges of fostering, and how organizations might alleviate these stressors. It employed data from a national survey of over 600 dog foster volunteers across the US. Findings suggest that emotional attachment to foster dogs is similar to attachment to pet dogs. Fostering animals does not appear to come without some emotional challenges for the human at the other end of the leash. Experiencing higher levels of emotional stress from fostering can have impacts on thoughts of quitting, which may hamper retention, particularly among the valuable volunteers who foster frequently. Organizational support directed at the human volunteer can alleviate these feelings, potentially increasing retention.
... Pet ownership is thought to influence many health and disease outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular health, loneliness, and depression) via emotional support and stress buffering, but little is known about the impact of pet ownership on cognitive health or dementia risk Gee & Mueller, 2019;Tomlinson et al., 2021). This is a critical gap in knowledge, as a growing body of evidence links pet ownership to several dementia risk factors and modifiers (e.g., Allen et al., 2001Allen et al., , 2002Barroso et al., 2021;Christian et al., 2013;Gee & Mueller, 2019;Handlin et al., 2011;MacLean et al., 2017;Miller et al., 2009;O'Haire et al., 2019;Pendry & Vandagriff, 2019;Rehn et al., 2014;Tomlinson et al., 2021). Prospective research that focuses on causal pathways between pet ownership and cognitive health could enhance the development of programs to support older adults who are interested in maintaining or initiating pet ownership, but such work must first be informed by longitudinal population-based data that are generalizable to the U.S. population. ...
... Human-animal interaction (HAI) refers to the dynamic and mutual exchanges between human and non-human animals (Griffin et al., 2019). Much of the HAI literature to date has focused on how HAI (i.e., dogs) benefits humans' affect and stress (Allen et al., 2001(Allen et al., , 2002Beetz et al., 2012;Crossman et al., 2020;McConnell et al., 2011). Significantly less attention has been given to how interactions with companion animals impact human cognition or other neurological outcomes, particularly in adult samples (Gee et al., 2015a;Gee et al., 2015b;Thayer & Stevens, 2021;Trammell, 2019). ...
... Although reasons for this association are likely multifactorial, disturbances in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, which lead to elevations in the stress hormone cortisol, are believed to detrimentally affect hippocampal function and other brain regions associated with cognition (Kim et al., 2015). Previous experimental research has indicated that pets may buffer physiological responses to mental stress, such as blood pressure (Allen et al., 2001) and cardiovascular reactivity (Allen et al., 2002). Other studies have identified associations between pet ownership and other stress indicators (heart rate, blood pressure) in the absence of significant changes in cortisol level, suggesting that stress reduction through interactions with companion animals may arise through multiple pathways (Handlin et al., 2011;Pendry & Vandagriff, 2019). ...
Objectives: To examine associations between sustained ownership of a pet and cognitive outcomes among a national sample of U.S. adults.
Methods: Weighted linear mixed models were estimated using the Health and Retirement Study (2010-2016, n=1,369) to compare repeated measures of cognitive function between respondents who endorsed owning a pet in a sustained manner (>5 years), versus those who owned a pet ≤5 years, and non-pet owners.
Results: Respondents age 65+ who owned a pet >5 years demonstrated higher composite cognitive scores, compared to non-pet owners (β=0.76, p=0.03). Sustained pet ownership was associated with higher immediate (β=0.3, p=0.02) and delayed (β=0.4, p=0.007) word recall scores. There were no significant differences in cognitive scores between pet owners and non-owners aged ≤65.
Discussion: Sustained ownership of a pet could mitigate cognitive disparities in older adults. Further studies are needed to examine potential causal pathways, including physical activity and stress buffering, versus selection effects.
... Extant social support studies suggest that the benefits of social support largely come from humans (Allen et al., 2001). Although some studies have suggested that cross-species social support offered by pets can have a positive influence in individuals (e.g., Allen et al., 2002), the empirical evidence is still insufficient in terms of how pets could buffer an individual's stressful life crisis and reduce their behavioral and psychological strain reactions. More importantly, prior research has called for studies investigating the role of attachment to pets (Lewis et al., 2009) as well as the importance of identifying how human-pet relationships help people reduce stress and minimize the risk of mental health problems (Wu et al., 2018) in a fine-grained way. ...
... Social support literature has suggested that positive affect and positive emotions may help employees react less to perceived stress (Allen et al., 2001;Cohen & Wills, 1985). Pets are always there when owners need to seek emotional support from them, especially in unpredictable external environments (Allen et al., 2002;Zilcha-mano et al., 2011). In other words, by offering attachment support, pets can be a type of safe haven for their owners (Meehan et al., 2017) especially when stress is high, thereby further reducing employees' behavioral and psychological strain reactions. ...
... In line with our hypotheses, pet attachment support buffers the positive relationship between job insecurity and the following strain reactions: alcohol use, marijuana use, emotional exhaustion, and depression. Previous research has found that pets can provide important support to their owners (e.g., Allen et al., 2002;Brooks et al., 2018;Wood et al., 2005), and we also find this to be the case in the context of COVID-19. Pet owners who were more attached to their pets did not report a significant increase in alcohol and marijuana use induced by job insecurity. ...
Drawing on the transactional theory of stress, the current study investigates whether employee job insecurity triggers employee behavioral strain reactions (i.e., alcohol use, marijuana use, and cigarette use) and psychological strain reactions (i.e., emotional exhaustion and depression) through stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we integrate social support theory and expect the moderating role of pet attachment support in the above relationships. By collecting two-wave data from 187 employees with pets in the United States, we found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, stress mediated the relationships between job insecurity and predicted behavioral and psychological reactions. Moreover, pet attachment support buffered the relationships between stress and these behavioral and psychological strain reactions (all except cigarette use). Pet attachment support also alleviated the conditional indirect effects job insecurity had on the two types of strain reactions via stress. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of this study.
... Die Areale, die mit Stress und Emotionen assoziiert sind, zeigten generell eine höhere Gehirnaktivität für gesprochene als für geschriebene Stimuli -sowie darüber hinaus Unterschiede zwischen den Hassredetypen, die mit den anderen gemessenen Biosignalen konform gingen. Allen et al. (2002) in Design und Ziel ähnlich, mit dem Unterschied, dass es hierin um die Bewältigung bzw. die Regulation negativer Emotionen ging. ...
... Jüngere Studien zeigen indes, dass sowohl negative Stressauslöser als auch negative Emotionen durch einen sozialen Kontext positiv beeinflusst werden können. In der Studie vonAllen et al. (2002) wurde beispielsweise die Herzfrequenz gemessen, während Teilnehmer*innen Stressauslösern wie starker Kälte (Hand im Eiswasser) und schweren Rechenaufgaben ausgesetzt waren. Die Teilnehmer*innen waren beim Experiment entweder allein oder befanden sich in Gesellschaft eines Freundes, Ehepartners oder Haus-tieres. ...
Zusammenfassung
Dass Hassrede (hate speech) zunehmend als Problem gilt, geht nicht allein auf ein steigendes Vorkommen zurück, sondern auch auf eine erhöhte Sensibilität für dieses Thema. Da die sprachliche Struktur von Hassrede sehr vielfältig und ihre Wahrnehmung sehr komplex ist, rückt ihre Erforschung zudem verstärkt in den Fokus der Linguistik und der Prosodieforschung. In unserem Beitrag fassen wir die Untersuchung unterschiedlicher geschriebener und gesprochener Hassredetypen im Deutschen über die letzten drei Jahre zusammen. Wir zeigen, dass geschriebene Hassrede anders wahrgenommen wird, sobald man sie laut ausspricht. Dabei werden lexikalisch vormarkierte Typen von Hassrede, etwa Imperative oder solche mit Holocaust-Bezug, in ihrer negativen Wirkung verstärkt, während Hassrede, die auf stimmlichen Faktoren basiert, wie Ironie oder rhetorische Fragen, an negativer Wirkung verliert. Wir zeigen außerdem, wie sich diese Urteile in menschlichen Biosignalen wiederfinden, z. B. in EEG-Messungen zu Stress und Emotionen im präfrontalen Kortex. In diesem Zusammenhang beschreibt der Beitrag auch ein neues EEG-Experiment, das die Rolle des sozialen Kontextes auf die Wirkung von Hassrede untersucht. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen ein höheres EEG-Stresslevel, wenn Rezipienten alleine mit Hassrede konfrontiert sind im Vergleich zur Hassrede-Konfrontation in Gesellschaft eines bekannten Menschen. Abschließend leitet der Beitrag aus allen Ergebnissen Ansatzpunkte für den praktischen Umgang mit Hassrede und deren weitere Erforschung ab.
... Social support is among the most important theories used to explain the mechanisms by which pet ownership benefit people's health (Serpell, 2006). According to this theory, benefits are mainly derived from the social support provided by animals, which buffers the negative impact of everyday life stress (Allen, Shykoff & Izzo, 2001;Allen et al., 2002;Kikusui et al., 2006;McConnell et al., 2019). Authors have highlighted particular features of the social support derived from human-animal bonds; for example, it mainly operates on the emotional level, with little contribution from the cognitive and social components that add complexity to relationships between humans (Kotrschal et al., 2009). ...
... Additionally, animals are valuable sources of social support, providing a sense of emotional and physical security (e.g., Putney, 2014;Taylor et al., 2018). Although some results for LGBTQ+ individuals were similar to those of studies examining more general samples (e.g., Allen et al., 2002;Kikusui et al., 2006;McCune et al., 2014), there is evidence of unique aspects of the "LGBTQ+ people-animal bond": (i) animals are important during the process of self-acceptance of sexual and/or gender diversity, improving self-esteem and mitigating stress; (ii) companion animals can provide a sense of safety and protection against social aggression for LGBTQ+ people; and (iii) providers of services required for companion animals may discriminate against their LGBTQ+ guardians. ...
LGBTQ+ people tend to experience prejudice, stigma, and discrimination, which increases their risk of developing mental health difficulties. Support networks, including companion animals, can be used to cope with these challenges. We performed a systematic review of studies related to the effects of human-animal interactions on the LGBTQ+ population. The review included 18 empirical studies; the findings showed that participants tended to view companion animals as family members, as well as providers of love, acceptance, and social support. Thus, companion animals could alleviate stress and increase resilience. However, certain costs were also cited and, under some circumstances, poorer health was observed. The results are discussed considering three unique aspects of the “LGBTQ+ people-animal bond”: (1) it promotes self-acceptance, (2) provides a sense of protection against sexuality-based stigma and social acts of aggression based on sex or gender, and (3) exposes animal guardians requesting animal care services to potential discrimination. By characterizing the LGBTQ+ people-animal bond, more effective responses to meet their needs and promote inclusion may be achieved.
... The relevance of human-animal interactions (HAIs)-the interaction between humans and pets-has been acknowledged; however, few studies have explored them in the context of telework. For instance, HAIs have been demonstrated to have positive effects on health and well-being [7,8]. For instance, a great amount of HAI research has focused on the role of animals in mitigating mental health disorders, such as reliving depression/anxiety symptoms [9]. ...
... Research has also shown that the simple act of looking at the pet decreases anxiety and exerts a calming or de-arousing influence [33]. Indeed, the mere observation of a pet can attenuate physiological and psychological responses to negative and stressful situations, attenuating those stressful and anxious responses: for instance, it has been observed that the presence of a companion dog as well as interactions with friendly but unknown dogs momentary decrease the blood pressure and heart rate in individuals of different ages [8,12] (for an exhaustive review, see [9]). Moreover, other studies have shown that HAIs produce oxytocin, which impacts the central nervous system and in turn diminishes behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to distress (e.g., [35,36]). ...
This study is based on the conservation of resources theory and the recovery step model in order to further explore the furr-recovery method—a mechanism through which workers break their routine by taking micro-moments to interact with their “furry co-workers,” thus relieving their fatigue and tension or other negative affective states. Based on this, we argue that this method not only serves the purpose of restoring self-regulatory resources but also ameliorates mental health. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze how daily human–animal interactions during teleworking positively influence teleworkers’ mental health, via recovering their self-regulatory resources, at the within-person level. Full-time teleworkers completed multiple online surveys for 5 consecutive workdays (N = 211 × 5 = 1055 daily observations). Multilevel path analysis results showed that on days on which employees had more micro-moments to interact with their “furry co-workers” during the day, they experienced a higher self-regulatory capacity and felt better while working. In sum, the findings give support for the theoretical resource perspective of interacting with pets as an effective energy management strategy while at work. This research extends the theoretical understanding of regulatory resources as a cognitive mechanism that links HAIs to employee mental health. Moreover, the findings outlined here offer practical implications by highlighting the furr-recovery method, a method that teleworkers who own pets may use as a strategy during the working day to restore resources needed to be healthier.
... Interaction with therapy dogs reduces depression symptoms and increases wellbeing in nursing home patients (Gammonley & Yates, 1991), decreases PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms in soldiers returning from war (Beck, Gonzales, Sells, Jones, Reer, & Zhu, 2012), decreases ADHD symptoms in children (Schuck, Emmerson, Fine & Lakes, 2015), reduces physiological arousal but not state anxiety or medical fear in hospitalized children (Tsai, Friedmann, & Thomas, 2010), reduces physiological response to a stressful mental arithmetic task (Allen, Blascovich, Tomaka, & Kelsey, 1991), and increases comfort and stress relief during therapy sessions (Walsh, 2009). Interactions with dogs in long-term settings as pets demonstrate similar benefits including, lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in older adults with a mildly elevated blood pressure (Friedmann, Thomas, Son, Chapa, & McCune, 2013), increased 1 year survival rate following a cardiac event (Friedmann, Katcher, Lynch, & Thomas, 1980), faster recovery from both psychological and physiological stress manipulations in married couples, (Allen, Blascovich, & Mendes, 2002) and better cardiovascular health (Friedmann, Thomas, Stein, & Kleiger, 2003). Building on these and other findings, the purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of the interaction between college students and dogs on several measures of cognitive functioning and perceived stress. ...
... Caution must be taken in interpreting our results since the benefits seen in the canine interaction group may have been due to them taking a break while they played with the dogs rather than something about the interaction itself. However, despite this possible alternative explanation our results are consistent with prior work demonstrating the beneficial effect of having a dog at home (Allen et al., 2002;Headey, 1999;Siegel, 1990) and of reduced self-reported stress in college students (Barker et al., 2016;Crossman et al., 2015). Importantly, the current results did not provide any evidence for changes on either of the cognitive measures. ...
The interaction between humans and canines has been linked to a variety of benefits including reductions in ADHD symptoms in children, depression symptoms in nursing home patients, and PTSD symptoms in veterans returning from war. Although the inclusion of therapy dogs on college campuses has increased over the last few years, little evidence exists demonstrating the effect of canine interaction in these settings. The current study examined the effects of college student’s interactions with therapy dogs during an exam period. Fifty-six students interacted with therapy dogs before or after completing measures of sustained attention, mind wandering, perceived stress, cognitive test anxiety, and state anxiety. Interacting with the therapy dogs reduced state anxiety and resulted in lower perceived stress but did not alter sustained attention task performance or mind wandering. The results suggest that interaction with therapy dogs may help reduce perception of stress and anxiety but may not alter the cognitive functions measured in the current study. Due to the levels of stress that college students experience during exam periods, on-campus therapy dog programs may provide a low, cost effective intervention that universities could implement to benefit their students.
... Nature has long been seen as a place to purify the mind and relieve stress. Ample research demonstrates that natural scenes and ecological environments effectively reduce individual psychological stress and enhance positive emotions [11][12][13][14][15]. For instance, in Kaplan's Attention Restoration Theory, nature is central to the argument for restorative experiences, and further points out that restorative environments should have four characteristics: fascination, a sense of being away, extent and compatibility [13]. ...
... In terms of the theoretical contribution, our research integrates elements of the indoor natural environment, emotional states, as well as psychological stress, revealing an interactive relationship between humans and nature during the COVID-19 pandemic, which constitutes a prolonged stressful environment. Previous literature has consistently revealed the coping effect of natural elements on human psychological well-being in welldesigned experiments [e.g., [2][3][4][5][6][11][12][13][14][15]. However, the validity of the plant effect in prolonged stressful environments is not well examined. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only jeopardized people's physical health, but also put additional strain on their mental health. This study explored the role of indoor natural elements (i.e., green plants) in relieving individuals' mental stress during a prolonged stressful period. A pilot and three formal studies examined the effect of indoor green plants placed in living and working environments on people's perceived stress during the pandemic and further uncovered its underlying mechanism emphasizing a mediating role of emotion. The pilot study confirmed that the severity of the pandemic positively correlated with individuals' level of stress. Study 1 then demonstrated that indoor green plants in people's living environments might reduce their perceived stress during the pandemic, which is referred to as the "plant effect". Study 2 repeated the plant effect in a field experiment conducted in a working environment and Study 3 revealed a mediating role of positive emotion. This study provides preliminary evidence for the mitigating effect of indoor green plants on individuals' mental stress during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The indoor green plants placed in living and working environments may elicit positive emotion, which in turn reduce peo-ple's mental stress. In addition, our results reveal that growth status of the indoor green plants affected the plant effect as well.
... A National Institutes of Health study of 420 adults who had suffered heart attacks showed that pet owners were significantly more likely to live on a year later than their pet less peers, regardless of how serious the heart attack. It has been reported that engaging a pet causes a greater reduction in cardiovascular stress response as compared to presence of friends or spouses (Allen et al., 2002). Several other studies have also demonstrated transient decreases in blood pressure and/or heart rate in experimental human subjects in the presence of pet animals (Friedmann et al., 1979). ...
... al., 2015). When housing and community environments are supportive of animal ownership, the human-animal relationship is strengthened (Allen & Blascovich, 2002). Over half of dog owners get to know their neighbors as a result of their pet; over 80% converse with other pet owners on their walks (Wood et al., 2005). ...
... Dog ownership promotes regular physical activity and better weight control [37][38][39], thereby improving myocardial contractility, enhancing coronary and peripheral vasodilation, optimizing lipid and glucose metabolism, reducing thrombogenicity and blood viscosity, and activating the cardioprotective parasympathetic nervous system [36, [40][41][42]. Higher heart rate variability and reduced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation from dog ownership also confer cardiovascular bene ts [43,44]. Cat ownership additionally alleviates cardiovascular stress by decreasing cortisol and increasing oxytocin [45,46]. ...
Objective: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the association between pet exposure with the incidence of allergic disease and all-cause mortality.
Methods: The primary results of our study were the incidence of allergic diseases and all-cause mortality. The relevant data of 2005-2006 in Nhanse database were used, including clinical basic information, serum index, disease information and death information, etc. Association between pets and allergic disease was assessed by a logistic regression model. Association of pet exposure with all-cause mortality was assessed using a Cox proportional risk model.
Results: A total of 4082 subjects aged 20 years or older were enrolled in this study, of which 1776 (43.5%) had contact with pets and 2306 (56.5%) had no contact with pets. The incidence of allergic rhinitis, hay fever, asthma and eczema in pet contact group was significantly higher than that in non-pet contact group. A logistic regression model showed that exposure to cats was associated with hay fever (OR:1.419; 95%CI 1.037,1.942), allergic rhinitis (OR:1.300; 95%CI 1.046,1.616) were significantly associated with a higher incidence. Exposure to dogs and asthma (OR:1.361; 95%CI 1.085, 1.707), eczema (OR:1.402; 95%CI 1.039,1.891) were significantly associated with a higher incidence. According to models of all-cause mortality, owning a cat or owning two types of pets (cat, dog) is associated with reduced all-cause mortality, especially among male. In female, only a reduction in all-cause mortality was observed with cat ownership.
Conclusions: In American adults, pet ownership, especially dog and cat exposure, may increase the risks of allergic diseases but decrease the risk of all-cause mortality.
... As interest has grown in non-pharmaceutical methods to foster and support healthier stress responses, a growing body of research has found dogs to be an effective intervention to reduce stress reactivity. Several studies using the TSST have found dogs to be more protective against acute stress hyperreactivity than romantic partners, parents, or close friends [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . However, research thus far has been limited to examining stress levels using self-reported measures, heart rate, and salivary cortisol. ...
Acute and chronic stress have physical manifestations in the human body that can lead to many negative health impacts. Today, people around the world report and experience higher stress levels than ever before, spurring the search for non-pharmaceutical interventions to maintain healthy stress levels. In this study, we examined whether a pet dog's presence influences healthy adults' acute stress responses. Participating pet dog owners were randomly assigned to undergo the Trier Social Stress Test either with their pet dog or alone. Participants undergoing the acute psychological stressor with their pet dogs present had significantly lower heart rates, lower plasma cortisol response, and higher salivary alpha-amylase response than people without their dogs. Those who participated without their dog had a statistically flat alpha amylase response, which is typically associated with extreme or pathological stress. These findings extend the potential effect of pet dogs beyond merely lowering their owner’s stress levels to maintaining a healthier, balanced response across the sympatho-adrenal medullary axis and hypothalamic-pituitary axes.
... Companion animals (CAs), such as dogs and cats, bring a richness of mind and body to human life. In fact, it has been shown that CAs help to reduce blood pressure [1,2] and anxious feelings [3,4] of CA owners. CA owners also tend to become attached to the CA that they have owned for a long time [5,6]. ...
People love companion animals as part of the family. However, recently there are some problems such as the anxiety about caring for animals and a lack of space to breed companion animals; therefore, companion robots are expected to be an alternative to companion animals. For the development of companion robots that are loved by their owners, it is necessary to know how attached the owners are to their companion robot. However, previous evaluation methods based on interviews or questionnaires only measure the degree of the owner’s attachment at the time when the evaluation is conducted; hence periodic measurement needs to be repeated to measure long-term changes in attachment. In this paper, we focus on the activity logs of the companion robot, which is highly objective and can be collected at a low cost, and examine the possibility of using the data as an evaluation indicator of the owner’s attachment degree. We compared the robot activity logs with questionnaire-based attachment ratings collected from companion robot owners (N = 259). We found that owners who highly rated their attachment to the companion robot in the subjective evaluation questionnaire were more likely to interact with the robot, such as holding the robot and calling the robot’s name. The result indicates the possibility of using robot activity logs as an objective indicator of the owner’s attachment degree.
... For example, Friedmann et al. (1983) found that the presence of a dog lowered blood pressure in children while they were reading or resting compared to when no dog was present. Multiple other studies (e.g., Grossberg and Alf, 1985;Vormbrock and Grossberg, 1988;Allen et al., 1991;Nagengast et al., 1997;Allen et al., 2002;Handlin et al., 2018) have reported changes in heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood pressure indicating a more relaxed state after interacting with companion animals, particularly after stroking them. Endocrine markers such as cortisol levels can also be influenced by companion animal contact (e.g., Barker et al., 2005;Cole et al., 2007;Viau et al., 2010). ...
Introduction
Positive social interactions with farm animals may have therapeutic benefits on humans by increasing brain oxytocin secretion, as inferred from circulating oxytocin levels. The aim of this observational study was to investigate acute changes in human plasma oxytocin levels and state anxiety associated with interactions with dairy cows.
Methods
Data were collected from 18 healthy female nursing students who performed stroking and brushing of an unfamiliar cow for 15 min. Blood samples were drawn before entering the cowshed (T1, baseline), and after 5 (T2) and 15 (T3) min of interaction with a cow. At T1 and T3, the students filled out the Norwegian version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State Subscale (STAI-SS).
Results
Across participants, no significant changes in average plasma oxytocin concentration were detected between time points (p>0.05). There was, however, a modest decline in the STAI-SS scores between T1 and T3 (p=0.015) and a positive correlation between the change in individual level of state anxiety between T1 and T3 and the change in OT concentration of the same individual between T2 and T3 (p = 0.045).
Discussion
The results suggest that friendly social interactions with cows are beneficial in lowering state anxiety, but any relationship with release of OT into the circulation was complex and variable across individuals. The acute reduction in state anxiety lends support to the value of interacting with farm animals in the context of Green Care for people with mental health challenges.
... The presence of pets is well known to decrease stress in experimental studies using both stress biomarkers 19,48,[50][51][52] and subjective scales [53][54][55] . Most of these studies documented the positive influence of dogs, but do not include cats. ...
Pet ownership has been associated with reduced deterioration in physical health as older adults age; little research focused on deterioration in cognitive function. We examine the relationship of pet, dog, cat ownership, and dog walking to changes in cognitive function among 637 generally healthy community-dwelling older adults (185 pet owners) aged 50–100 years (M = 68.3, SD = 9.6) within the BLSA. Cognitive assessments every 1–4 years over 1–13 years (M = 7.5, SD = 3.6) include the California Verbal Learning (Immediate, Short, Long Recall); Benton Visual Retention; Trail-Making (Trails A, B, B-A); Digit Span; Boston Naming (Naming); and Digit Symbol Substitution (Digit Symbol) Tests. In linear mixed models, deterioration in cognitive function with age was slower for pet owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short, Long Recall; Trails A,B,B-A; Naming; Digit Symbol); dog owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short Recall; Trails A,B; Naming; Digit Symbol); and cat owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short, Long Recall; Naming), controlling for age and comorbidities. Among dog owners (N = 73) walkers experienced slower deterioration than non-walkers (Trails B, B-A; Short Recall). All ps ≤ 0.05. We provide important longitudinal evidence that pet ownership and dog walking contribute to maintaining cognitive function with aging and the need to support pet ownership and dog walking in design of senior communities and services.
... Anxious attachment to pets results in increased emotional distress, negative view of self as an owner, constant worry about the pet and their needs, and deteriorating mental health (Zilcha-Mano et al., 2011), whereas avoidant attachment leads to decreased emotional distress, indifference toward the needs and integrity of the animal (Konok et al., 2015), reduced level of trust, negative expectations of the animal, and an overall distant relationship (Zilcha-Mano et al., 2011). On the other hand, owners with secure attachments to their pets reported reduced levels of distress and stress in their presence as compared with when a friend or a spouse was present (Allen et al., 2002). Additionally, pet owners who reported relatively higher levels of attachment to their pets had improved mental wellbeing and less perceived stress (Wen Li et al., 2017). ...
... Social Support Social support, originated in social psychology, refers to the social resources perceived by individuals as available or those actually provided by nonprofessionals, encompassing both formal support groups and informal helping relationships (Kim, Sherman, and Taylor 2008). Such support can come from various sources, including partners, family, friends, coworkers, social connections, and even beloved pets (Allen, Blascovich, and Mendes 2002). Numerous studies have highlighted the significant impact of social relationships on mental and physical health (Rodriguez and Cohen 1998;Taylor et al. 2011;Krause 2001). ...
In our modern, fast-paced, and interconnected world, the importance of mental well-being has grown into a matter of great urgency. However, traditional methods such as Emotional Support Conversations (ESC) face challenges in effectively addressing a diverse range of individual personalities. In response, we introduce the Social Support Conversation (S2Conv) framework. It comprises a series of support agents and the interpersonal matching mechanism, linking individuals with persona-compatible virtual supporters. Utilizing persona decomposition based on the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), we have created the MBTI-1024 Bank, a group that of virtual characters with distinct profiles. Through improved role-playing prompts with behavior preset and dynamic memory, we facilitate the development of the MBTI-S2Conv dataset, which contains conversations between the characters in the MBTI-1024 Bank. Building upon these foundations, we present CharacterChat, a comprehensive S2Conv system, which includes a conversational model driven by personas and memories, along with an interpersonal matching plugin model that dispatches the optimal supporters from the MBTI-1024 Bank for individuals with specific personas. Empirical results indicate the remarkable efficacy of CharacterChat in providing personalized social support and highlight the substantial advantages derived from interpersonal matching. The source code is available in \url{https://github.com/morecry/CharacterChat}.
... Early experiments suggest interactions with pet dogs can alleviate interpersonal distress (e.g., the Trier social stress task; Aydin et al., 2012), particularly for children (Kerns et al., 2018;Kertes et al., 2017;Wheeler & Faulkner, 2015), when subjectively measured, but it is unclear if they relieve more general types of subjective distress. Studies that have looked at noninterpersonal stressors have found reductions in some physiological outcomes relevant to distress (e.g., heart rate recovery; Allen et al., 1991Allen et al., , 2002Odendaal & Meintjes, 2003;Zilcha-Mano et al., 2012) but to our knowledge, subjective affective outcomes of noninterpersonal stressors have yet to be assessed in the lab (for measurement in participants' homes see Campo & Uchino, 2013). ...
Many people, including nearly half of American households, own a pet dog. Previous work has found that therapy dog interactions reduce distress, but little work to date has empirically established the mood-enhancing effects of interaction with one's own pet dog. In this study, dog owners (N = 73; 86.3% female, 13.7% male; age 25-77 years) underwent a stress-inducing task followed by random assignment to either (a) interacting with their dog (n = 24), (b) an expectancy control (n = 25; "stress-reducing" coloring books), or (c) a waiting control (n = 24). We compared the effects of each condition on affect and state anxiety. Participants assigned to the dog interaction showed greater increases in positive affect, as well as greater reductions in anxiety compared to both expectancy and waiting controls (ds > 0.72, ps < .018). No significant reductions in negative affect were detected. Second, we found that self-reported experiences with animals, attitudes toward animals, or bondedness with their dog did not differentially predict the condition's impact on the owner's mood. Finally, we coded participants' degree of engagement (e.g., time spent playing) with the dog and found that higher engagement predicted reduced negative affect. Overall, interacting with one's own pet dog reduced owners' distress. Such interactions, which occur commonly in daily life, may have the potential to alleviate distress at a large scale. Precisely how this works and for whom it is especially well suited remain intriguing open questions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
... Third, a division arising from the way in which the commonalities of humans and animals are perceived. A group that emphasizes primarily similarities will actively respond to animal suffering resulting from human mistreatment (Allen et al., 2002). The perception of the animal world through the prism of anthropomorphism, also significantly conditions greater interest in the activities of animal protection organizations. ...
Purpose: The main objective of the study was to identify those nonprofit organizations that were characterized by the highest Facebook publication frequency, the highest number of Facebook followers and the highest average public reaction to the Facebook content. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis was used to accomplish the research objectives. Findings: The results of the study clearly indicated that the nonprofit organizations with the most effective use of Facebook are those operating in the areas related to ecology, animal protection and protection of natural heritage. Research limitations/implications: There is a need for research on the basis of which it will be possible to find out whether, in fact, the high interest in organizations related to ecology, animal protection and protection of natural heritage and their Facebook profile has a psychological basis. Practical implications: The results of the research can be an important source of information for executives of nonprofit organizations in the utilization of social media in their day-today operations. Originality/value: This paper expands the knowledge of Facebook utilization in a specific group of Polish nonprofit organizations, i.e. those with the status of public benefit organizations.
... The sociodemographic characteristics considered in the models have been previously described to be associated with pet ownership. [29][30][31][32][33] Furthermore, we studied the relationship between clinical characteristics, namely cancer stage and comorbidities, and patientreported outcomes, and pet ownership, considering the following reasons: pets have also been associated with better cardiovascular outcomes, namely lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and lower incidence of overweight and obesity 3,34 ; pets may contribute to psychological and social domains by reducing anxiety and depression, giving a motivation for exercise and offering social support, 4,5,35 which is a well-recognized predictor of adoption of behavior change and its maintenance, and for patients coping with cancer and other health problems. Some treatment characteristics, namely more aggressive surgery and longer chemotherapy regimens, were associated with short-and long-term side effects, such as immunosuppression and lymphedema, which may also influence interaction with pets. ...
Background
Although human–animal interactions (HAI) have been associated with health benefits, they have not been extensively studied among cancer patients nor which factors may influence HAI during cancer survivorship. Therefore, this study aims to describe pet ownership in a breast cancer cohort within 5 years post-diagnosis and to identify associated factors.
Methods
Four hundred sixty-six patients from the NEON-BC cohort were evaluated. Four groups of pet ownership over the 5 years were defined: ‘never had’, ‘stopped having’, ‘started having’ and ‘always had’. Multinomial logistic regression was used to quantify the association between the patient characteristics and the groups defined (reference: ‘never had’).
Results
51.7% of patients had pets at diagnosis, which increased to 58.4% at 5 years; dogs and cats were the most common. Women presenting depressive symptoms and poor quality of life were more likely to stop having pets. Older and unpartnered women were less likely to start having pets. Those retired, living outside Porto, having diabetes or having owned animals during adulthood were more likely to start having pets. Women with higher education and unpartnered were less likely to always have pets. Those living in larger households, with other adults or having animals throughout life, were more likely to always have pets. Obese women had lower odds of stopping having dogs/cats. Women submitted to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and longer chemotherapy treatments were more likely to stop having dogs/cats.
Conclusions
Pet ownership changed over the 5 years and is influenced by sociodemographic, clinical and treatment characteristics, patient-reported outcomes and past pet ownership, reflecting the importance of HAI during cancer survivorship.
... 1997;Walsh, 2009b). Allen, Blascovich, and Mendes (2002), add to previous research by noting the significance of pet presence compared to human presence of a sibling or close friend in reducing the cardiovascular effects of stress. ...
and is conducted within a nine-month time frame to demonstrate facility with basic social research methods. Students must independently conceptualize a research problem, formulate a research design that is approved by a research committee and the university Institutional Review Board, implement the project, and publicly present their findings. This project is neither a Master's thesis nor a dissertation. Abstract Animal-assisted therapy has frequently been used with children who have autism spectrum disorder. This study examined animal-assisted therapists' perceptions of effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy with children who have DSM-IV mental health diagnoses. The researcher recruited self-identified animal-assisted therapists using social media sites LinkedIn and Facebook. Two therapists completed the fourteen question qualitative survey in full. Three themes were found in this study; comfort, confidence, and benefits. While this study produced definite themes, more research needs to be conducted on animal-assisted therapy and children with DSM-IV mental health disorders.
... It was also a time when many individuals spent more time at home, presumably interacting more frequently with pets (Bolstad et al., 2022). The presence of pets has been shown to improve coping with stress (Allen et al., 2002), maintain regularity with exercise and healthy eating behavior (Vesnaver and Keller, 2011), and enhance social connectedness (Curl et al., 2017). Companion animals are consistent, reliable sources of social support for humans (Serpell, 2003). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced and exacerbated innumerable stressors for Americans. Pet ownership has been shown to help individuals cope with stress and loneliness. However, given the shorter life spans of most pets compared to humans, many pet owners inevitably dealt with pet loss and its associated grief during the pandemic. We surveyed 284 community and college participants that had suffered the loss of a pet during the pandemic. We asked these pet owners about their pandemic-related experiences over the preceding year with regard to the types of losses they experienced, whether they experienced isolation through quarantine and their perception of social support. We also measured their general attachment to pets along with the grief they felt as a result of pet loss. We hypothesized that greater loss, increased isolation, and reduced social support would lead to increased attachment to pets, which would intensify the experience of grief. Mediated regression analyses revealed a direct effect of loss on grief that was not mediated through attachment. Unexpectedly, greater perceived social support showed an indirect effect on grief through stronger attachment to pets. Results confirm prior findings that greater pet attachment leads to more intense pet grief, but the attachment was not intensified through loss of support social or increased isolation as predicted. It is important to recognize the substantial impact of pet loss, especially during stressful times, and this topic deserves further investigation, perhaps with a greater focus on the type of pet and pet-specific measures of attachment.
... The person feels he has people around him who care and love him (Cobb, 1976). One can fully feel emotionally supported due to a romantic relationship, or by family, friends, colleagues, community life, and pets (Allen et al., 2002). Additionally, social support serves as a resource of psychological support that can enhance the person's ability to cope with stress. ...
The unprecedented restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic altered our daily habits and severely affected our well-being and physiology. Although the transition to online learning has brought some benefits to academic studies, it has also raised various challenges such as concentration challenges for students, gaps in available resources and equipment suitable for active participation, and anxiety related to physical distancing. The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between a sense of loneliness, social support, and a sense of desire to learn frontally or remotely depending on the subject. Our research contributes to understanding how to adapt academic studies to student's needs. Examples are provided for incorporating group activities in statistics courses to enhance student interaction and reduce the sense of loneliness.
... For example, Negengast et al. (1997) measured cardiovascular responses of children during a physical examination and found that when there was a dog present, blood pressure and heart rate were lower than when there was no dog present. Allen (2002) conducted a calculation task and cold pressor test and found that heart rate and blood pressure were lower, reactivity to a stressor was less, and recovery was quicker when there was a dog present, compared to a friend. Conversely, some experiments have reported no changes in heart rate Hansen et al., 1999) or even an increase in heart rate from interactions with dogs (Vormbrock & Grossberg, 1998;DeMello et al., 1999). ...
Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) is widely used in therapeutic and educational situations. It is necessary to describe the effects of AAI based on objective indices to facilitate the effective use of AAI. We investigated the effects of interacting with a dog on sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activities by evaluating heart rate variability (HRV) using the Lorenz plot method. Participants were thirty-four healthy volunteers (17 females and 17 males, 20-29 years of age), randomly assigned to one of three groups: the dog group, the stuffed dog group, and the plant group. Participants rated their impressions of the target (the dog, the stuffed dog, or the plant) by touching it between task blocks. The participants completed a mood scale in each block, and we measured their heart rate, respiration rate, and skin conductance response. Results indicated that interactions with the dog increased the cardiac sympathetic index of Lorentz plot, skin conductance responses, and “high-arousal and pleasant mood” score compared to the other conditions. These results suggest that short interactions with a dog activate the sympathetic nervous system, which causes an awakening effect.
... There is a growing body of knowledge surrounding the human-animal bond. More specifically, dogs have been found to be important social supports with measurable health benefits in the role of pets, visitors, canine colleagues, and assistants to people with disabilities (Allen, Blascovich, & Mendes, 2002;Allen, Shykoff, & Izzo, 2001;Nimer & Lundahl, 2007;Winkle, Crowe, & Hendrix, 2011). In many cultures, the humananimal bond begins early in life and grows over time. ...
Animals, particularly dogs, are gaining momentum in specialized Human-Animal Interactions. Dogs’ roles range from pets, family members, volunteer visitors, and canine colleagues, to assistance dogs. This has also resulted in a need for uniform terminology to delineate between the different jobs dogs do within HAI as many of these roles are now the subject of scientific inquiry and laws. While the international literature has demonstrated growth in these areas, the terminology can leave readers confused when it comes to dogs working in the contexts of Animal Assisted Interventions (AAIs) and Assistance Dogs (AD). This article looks towards organizations with significant national and international representation to clarify the movement toward a uniform terminology that may impact the development of standards of practice and research for a variety of disciplines using AAIs and clarify laws for AD.
... Öyle ki bir kişinin bile alkol/madde kullanımını desteklemesi, diğer kişilerin tedaviyi desteklemesinden daha güçlü olabilmektedir (24). Bağımlı bireye sosyal destek sunanlar arasında; aileler (25), arkadaşlar, sosyal gruplar, iş arkadaşları, dini unsurlar (26), hatta evcil bir hayvan yer alabilmektedir (27). ...
Objective: The aim of the study is to discover the importance of the social support system in the initiation or continuation of the treatment of individuals addicted to alcohol and substance. Method: In this context, in-depth interviews and observations have been made using the qualitative research method with 18 addicted participants who are in their treatment processes, and the data that have been obtained were analyzed with the descriptive analysis method. Results: It has been detected that social support affects the decision to get the treatment, the motivation to continue the treatment, staying sober for longer, and the treatment having a positive course. It has been determined that there is a close correlation between the prolongation of the remission period of addicts and their social support systems. Family, friends, self-help groups, religious beliefs and work life stand out as the social systems that provide the most support for the participants in the treatment process. Conclusion: In addition to psychological or medicated treatment methods, especially the processes of making a decision about the treatment and maintaining the treatment should be managed professionally. It is considered to be important to increase the approaches and methods that will enable working closely with the social systems of the addicted individuals in order to increase the success in the treatment of addiction. Öz Amaç: Araştırmada, alkol ve madde bağımlısı bireylerin tedaviye başlamasında veya tedaviyi sürdürmesinde sosyal destek sisteminin önemini keşfetmek amaçlanmaktadır. Yöntem: Bu kapsamda tedavi sürecine devam eden 18 bağımlı katılımcıyla nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanılarak derinlemesine mülakat ve gözlem yapılmış, elde edilen veriler betimsel analiz yöntemiyle analiz edilmiştir. Bulgular: Araştırma sonucunda sosyal desteğin; bağımlıların tedavi kararı almaları, tedaviyi sürdürme motivasyonları, ayık kalma sürelerinin uzaması ve tedavinin olumlu seyretmesi üzerinde etkili olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Bağımlıların remisyon süresinin uzamasıyla sosyal destek sistemleri arasında yakın bir ilişki olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Tedavi sürecinde yer alan katılımcılar için aile, arkadaş, kendine yardım grupları, dini inançlar ve iş yaşamı en çok destek sunan sosyal sistemler olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Sonuç: Bağımlıların psikolojik veya ilaçlı tedavilerinin yanında özellikle tedaviye karar verme ve tedaviyi sürdürme süreçlerinin de profesyonel olarak yönetilebilmesi gerekmektedir. Bağımlılığın tedavisinde başarının artırılması için bağımlı bireyin sosyal destek sistemleriyle yakından çalışmaya imkân sunacak yaklaşımların ve yöntemlerin artırılmasının önemli olduğu düşünülmektedir.
... According to various studies conducted with families who live with dogs, families who do not live with dogs have a more developed immune system and so have fewer allergic reactions (Hesselmar et al 1999, McNicholas et al 2005. In addition, it has been found that they have reduced stress, blood pressure and cholesterol, and have had a positive effect on child development (Vidovic et al 1999, Allen et al 2002. It has become an important issue to examine the relationships between dogs which contribute to people in many ways and owners. ...
Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı, köpekler ve sahipleri arasındaki ilişkilerin kalitesini değerlendirmek için kullanılabilecek kedi/köpek sahibi ilişki ölçeğini (C/DORS) Türkçe'ye çevirmek ve Türkiye’de farklı demografik değişkenler arasında ilişki kalitesini değerlendirmektir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Kedi/köpek sahibi ilişki ölçeği (C/DORS) uzman bir ekip tarafından orijinal dili İngilizce'den Türkçe'ye çevrildi. Çalışmaya katılmaya gönüllü olan köpek sahiplerinden ölçek aracılığıyla bilgi toplanmıştır. Köpek sahiplerinin cinsiyeti, eğitim durumu ve maddi durumu da toplandı. Ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirliği Cronbach's alpha ve faktör analizi kullanılarak değerlendirildi. Bulgular: İlk istatistiksel analizler ölçekte faktör analizinin kullanılabileceğini (Bartlett küresellik testi, p<0,001) ve örneklem büyüklüğünün yeterli olduğunu (KMO testi=0,619) ortaya koydu. Algılanan duygusal yakınlık, evcil hayvan-sahibi etkileşimi ve algılanan maliyet olarak üç alt boyuta sahip olan ölçeğin toplam açıkladığı varyans %43,90 olarak bulundu. Ölçeğe ait Cronbach alfa katsayısı 0,844 olarak tespit edildi. Ölçek alt boyut skorlarının cinsiyet (p>0,05) ve gelir durumu (p>0,05) açısından istatistiksel olarak benzer seviyelerde olduğu görüldü. Algılanan maliyet skoru eğitim durumu açısından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bulundu (p<0,05). Öneri: Türkçe’ye uyarlanan ve geçerlik-güvenirliği belirlenmiş olan bu ölçeğin Türkiye’de köpek-sahibi ilişkilerini ölçebilen ilk ölçek olma niteliği taşıdığı düşünülmektedir. Ayrıca, bu çalışma ölçek geliştirme ve uyarlama çalışmaları aracılığıyla Türkiye’de pet hayvanı-insan ilişkilerinin incelenmesi hususunda faydalı olacaktır.
... In fact, animal companionship research suggests that the recognition that pets are safe and a form of comfort has physiological effects including decreased blood pressure during distressing events, lower resting heart rate and heart rate during distressing events, and quicker recovery to resting heart rate. 53,54 The cortisol reducing effects we found may also be related to the remarkable ability of dogs to show signs of empathy towards humans and the comfort that comes out of this unspoken bond. 55 Genetic evidence suggests humans began domesticating wild dogs between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. ...
The steroid hormone cortisol can be used to measure physiological stress in humans. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis synthesizes cortisol, and a negative feedback cycle regulates cortisol depending on an individual's stress level and/or circadian rhythm. Chronic stress of college undergraduate students is associated with various adverse health effects, including anxiety and depression. Reports suggest that stress levels have risen dramatically in recent years, particularly among university students dealing with intense academic loads in addition to COVID-19 pandemic-related uncertainty. The increasing rate of mental illness on college campuses necessitates the study of mediators potentially capable of lowering stress, and thus cortisol levels. Research on mediation techniques and coping mechanisms have gained traction to address the concerning levels of stress, including the employment of human-animal interaction sessions on college campuses. In this study, human-canine interaction as a stress mediation strategy for undergraduate students was investigated. We measured salivary cortisol levels in 73 college undergraduate students during a 60-minute interaction period with a dog to determine whether human-canine interactions are effective in lowering cortisol levels and potentially reducing chronic stress typical of undergraduate students. Our results indicate that a human-canine interaction for 60 mins is an effective method for significantly reducing salivary cortisol and stress levels among undergraduate college students. These findings support the expansion of animal visitation programs on college campuses to help students manage stress.
... Ownership of a pet has been linked to fewer visits to the doctor, lower blood pressure, and higher survival rates after myocardial infarction [6][7][8]. These advantages have been demonstrated in adults, but the advantages of having a pet have also been proven in children. ...
Aim:
Mental retardation is a social stigma and children affected by this condition always require love and compassion. Pets have a positive role in human life to relieve stress and anxiety. Pets are therefore considered to be a very important aspect of psychological therapy. Those children who are suffering from mental retardation have to be given regular stress and anxiety-relieving sessions. Hence this study aims to analyze the psychosocial effects of pet dog ownership on mentally challenged children.
Methodology:
A total of 112 children were included in the study and were counseled at the Department of Pediatrics, District Hospital, Amritsar. Twenty patients were lost to follow up and pet ownership materialized in 52 patients. The study was divided into 2 groups, the compliant group (n=52) and the non-compliant group (n=40). Hamilton anxiety scale (HAM-A) was applied to all the children before pet dog ownership (PRE) and after 3-6 months with a pet dog (POST). The pre and post-scores of all the children were recorded and subjected to statistical analysis.
Results:
The HAM-A score before pet ownership was comparable, before pet ownership (p=.825), but after 3-6 months of pet ownership significant difference was observed between compliant and non-compliant groups (p<.001). Also, the HAM-A score in children with mild mental retardation (mild MR) and moderate mental retardation (moderate MR) was significantly less than the non-compliant group after 3-6 months. We also observed that the decrease in the anxiety levels was comparable in children who owned local breeds and foreign breeds.
Conclusion:
This short-term follow-up research highlights the potential advantages of keeping a companion dog for youngsters with mental problems in terms of improving their lives. Many of these long-term gains might be attributed to lessening tensions within families.
... The results of this study are in line with and extend the findings of previous studies. Whilst some of those studies found significant associations between social support (or the lack of) and both SBP and DBP (Allen, Blascovich, Mendes, 2002), others found them for only one CVR index such as Gerin et al. (1995) found lower DBP reactivity to a laboratory stressor in roommate present condition than in alone condition. Lepore et al. (1993) found that pariicipants who were supported by a confederate exhibited smaller increases in the SBP than their alone counterparts in response to a speech task. ...
p>Inconclusive previous research has hinted at the significance of social support in cancer-related outcomes. Some recent studies have also attempted to show the role of proangiogenic cytokines as the possible underlying mechanisms in this relationship between social support and cancer progression. This thesis aimed to further investigate these pathways by investigating the association between social support, loneliness and disease markers in colorectal cancer.
This thesis systematically reviewed the longitudinal prospective findings ( N = 27) on the relationship between social support and cancer progression, and found that the evidence from methodologically sound studies ( n = 16) was strong for breast cancer (67%) but not for other types of cancer (0%) and mixed cancers (50%). It also suggested that disease-related variables should be considered when assessing the role of psychosocial factors in cancer-related outcomes.
Study 1 adapted and validated an Implicit Association Test of loneliness (IAT-L). This IAT-L showed low internal consistency, and weak construct and criterion-related validity in this study on 50 healthy volunteers (mean age = 24.1 years). In order to overcome these weaknesses, Study 2 used a modified IAT-L and investigated the relationship between implicit loneliness, social support, and cardiovascular reactivity to stress, to establish its predictive validity in another sample of 23 healthy female volunteers (mean age = 22.1 years). Results yielded satisfactory internal consistency of the modified tool (IAT-L (M)), and implicit loneliness was found to be more strongly correlated with cardiovascular reactivity to stress than the explicit measures of social support and loneliness. Finally, Study 3 used the IAT-L (M) to investigate whether implicit loneliness was related with the in situ levels of four important biological markers (three cytokines and oxytocin) along with explicit measures of social support and loneliness in 51 colorectal cancer patients (mean age = 68.3 years). Results showed that implicit loneliness explained significant variance in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), extending previous findings with an implicit test.</p
... The first finding is in agreement with the other reported benefits of keeping dogs as pets. These benefits include decreased loneliness (Wells, 2019;Zasloff and Kidd, 1994), increased self-esteem (Schulz et al., 2020), and reduced sympathetic activity during mental stress (Allen et al., 2002). These positive effects might be related to dogs' ability to use human social-communicative cues (Hare and Tomasello, 2005;Nagasawa et al., 2015). ...
Background
Previous studies have investigated the relationship between pet ownership and mental health in various populations, but few have targeted women around childbirth when they have heightened vulnerability to mental disorders. This study therefore examined this association in women around childbirth.
Methods
Data were obtained from 80,814 mothers in an ongoing nationwide birth cohort study in Japan. Pet ownership status—none, dog(s) only, cat(s) only, or both—was determined during the second/third trimester of pregnancy. Mental health was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), with each score measured at two different time points around childbirth. Generalized linear models were used to derive adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for pet ownership, with no pet ownership as the reference.
Results
Dog ownership was associated with reduced risk of depressive symptoms at 1 month (aOR: 0.97, 95%CI: 0.95–0.98) and 6 months postpartum (aOR: 0.98, 95%CI: 0.96–0.99) and with psychological distress at 12 months postpartum (aOR: 0.96, 95%CI: 0.92–0.999). In contrast, cat ownership was associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms at 6 months postpartum (aOR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02–1.06) and psychological distress in the second/third trimester (aOR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.02–1.12). Ownership of both cats and dogs was associated with increased risk of psychological distress in the second/third trimester (aOR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.03–1.21) but was largely similar to that of the reference group.
Conclusions
Dog ownership was a protective factor for maternal mental health problems, whereas cat ownership was a risk factor. These findings suggest that the type of pet owned, cat or dog, plays a differential role in maintaining mothers’ mental health in the perinatal and postpartum periods.
... Through improving daily activities, AAT attenuates anxiety and improves psychological situation of the individual. A higher health condition, less stress, and fewer behavioral and psychological problems all have been reported as the results of AAT [43,47,48]. Therefore, it can be concluded that AAT is effective in alleviating anxiety in children. ...
Objective & background:
Human-animal interactions are considered as being valuable and beneficial for the psychological health. Recently Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) has been included for client-therapist interaction. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy in alleviation of anxiety in pre-school children.
Method:
The study was carried out as a randomized controlled trail with pre-test and post-test design and control group. The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the registration id of ChiCTR2000034145. The study consisted of 33 anxious 5-7years old children (participated in a welfare anxiety screening plan held by Counseling Center, Tehran-Iran) between 2018 and 2019. The participants took part in the study voluntarily. The subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (10 in each group). The experimental group was exposed to 8 sessions of animal therapy. The research instrument used in the present study was Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Parent Form) and the data were analyzed on SPSS 21 software.
Results:
The results showed that animal therapy had a significant effect on general anxiety after adjusting for post-test assessments (f = 32.49 and p = 0.001) with the effect equal to 0.70. In addition, the effect of animal therapy on anxiety of separation (f = 5.63, p = 0.03), generalized anxiety disorder (f = 8.56, p = 0.01), social phobia (f = 14.58, p = 0.002) and specific anxiety (f = 11.63, p = 0.005) was significant with effects equal to 0.30, 0.40, 0.53, and 0.47, respectively. The results also showed that the effect of animal therapy on obsession was not significant (p > 0.05).
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be concluded that Animal therapy is effective in alleviating anxiety in children. It supports for the inclusion of AAT in therapeutic practice with children having anxiety.
... Another case study showed that people recovered more quickly in the presence of animals after heart attacks (Borchard, 2013). Other investigations have observed a reduction in symptoms associated with depression and stress (e.g., Allen et al., 2002;Cline, 2010;Miller et al., 2009), greater well-being and better self-esteem (McConnell et al., 2011). Headey (1999) found that dog and cat owners went to the doctor less often and were less likely to take sleeping medication than people without animals. ...
Several studies have shown the positive effects of the presence of animals on humans at work, especially pets. It is increasingly common to find workplaces all over the world that provide this benefit, allowing employees to work with their pet beside them. These workplaces are called “pet friendly.” These practices, in addition to the direct effects on employees, affect the company’s image, showing positive effects in reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity. It is also expected that they impact the company’s perception of social responsibility, and that this influences the attitudes of its employees. In view of this growing reality and its possible impact with regard to organizational behavior, this study aims to observe the effect that the presence of pets in the workplace has on the perception of the social responsibility of organizations and on the organizational commitment (OC) of employees. To this end, 177 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions according to a unifactorial design. All participants received a descriptive scenario of practices adopted by an organization to improve employee performance and business success. The scenario varied according to the inclusion of animals versus noninclusion. The results show the positive effect of the presence of animals both in the perception of social responsibility and in employees’ OC.
This study leads us to conclude that animals are important in people’s lives and as such have a positive impact on organizational life.
... The benefits of exercise are well documented in the literature on mental health. Exercise is known to improve cerebral blood flow, sleep, mental alertness, self-esteem and energy, and prevent social withdrawal 22,23 . It may also provide a distraction from daily challenges. ...
To assess the frequency of persisting symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection and assessment of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on selected parameters of self-reported health status and well-being half a year after the disease. The study population consisted of 3 groups: post-COVID-19 group I—172 patients; group II—172 patients with chronic disease, who have not suffered from COVID-19; group III—81 patients from a population study cohort—Bialystok PLUS. A standardized interview questionnaire was used to collect data in the three groups using the CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) technique. Interviews were conducted between October 2020 and January 2021, thus during the second wave of the pandemic in Poland. The subjective state of health in comparison with the state of health before the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated in COVID-19 convalescents. Patients, who suffered from symptomatic COVID-19 were more prone to nervousness, anxiousness, tension than patients with oligosymptomatic course of the disease. Moreover, anxiety, fear and irritability were more frequent in Group I and II in comparison to Group III, whereas Group I and II did not differ significantly. The decrease in physical activity observed in COVID-19 patients mirrored the changes in general population. The most frequent persistent symptoms after COVID-19 are: general malaise, cough, smell and taste disorder, dyspnea. COVID-19 convalescents who experienced symptomatic disease are more prone to development of nervousness, anxiousness, tension and anxiety than patients with oligosymptomatic course of the disease. Females and younger patients who suffered from COVID-19 are more prone to development of mental distress than healthy population. No significant differences between COVID-19 convalescents and healthy population was observed as far as the attitude towards physical activity is concerned.
In diagnostic, therapeutic, and nursing contexts, touch is a prerequisite for successful treatment. Compared to other everyday touches, these touches represent exceptional situations in the lives of both patients and the professionals performing the touches.
Social touches can be distinguished from necessary touches that serve a medical or nursing purpose. These social touches, which often occur spontaneously, fulfill social or emotional functions and can have a calming, comforting, or stress-reducing effect. It is possible to use social touches specifically for these effects in medical and nursing contexts.
The chapter informs about emotional, social, and ethical aspects of touch, placebo effects through touch, embodiment effects, effects of pets and animal-assisted therapy, and the effects of loneliness and touch deprivation on health.
Why do people fall in love? Does passion fade with time? What makes for a happy, healthy relationship? This introduction to relationship science follows the lifecycle of a relationship – from attraction and initiation, to the hard work of relationship maintenance, to dissolution and ways to strengthen a relationship. Designed for advanced undergraduates studying psychology, communication or family studies, this textbook presents a fresh, diversity-infused approach to relationship science. It includes real-world examples and critical-thinking questions, callout boxes that challenge students to make connections, and researcher interviews that showcase the many career paths of relationship scientists. Article Spotlights reveal cutting-edge methods, while Diversity and Inclusion boxes celebrate the variety found in human love and connection. Throughout the book, students see the application of theory and come to recognize universal themes in relationships as well as the nuances of many findings. Instructors can access lecture slides, an instructor manual, and test banks.
The objective of this study was to characterize the domestic cat population of Uruguay in relation to breed, coat color, hair length, lifestyle (indoor vs. outdoor), age, sex, and spay/neuter status according to a survey completed by their owners or guardians. An online survey, distributed to residents of Uruguay, was completed in full by 2561 cat guardians. Descriptive statistics and Chi-squared tests were performed. The population of cats with guardians in Uruguay is characterized by the following data: higher frequency of female cats (53%), most of the cats were between two and six years old (49%), most of them were neutered (84%, mainly those older than one year of age), most of them have outdoor access (87%), a very low percentage (6%) are purebred (Siamese being the most frequent: 86%), and within the non-pure breeds, short hair cats were the most frequent (79%). This study, in addition to expanding the information on the characteristics of cats with guardians from other countries and continents, is the first study in Latin America to describe some key demographic aspects such as cat breeds, coat color, hair length, lifestyles, and frequency by age, sex, and spay/neuter status (spayed/neutered or not) at the country level.
ResumoOs animais possuem papel relevante na relação com os seres humanos, sendo capazes de gerar estímulo e motivação. Desde a segunda metade do século XX, estudam-se,mais amiúde, os benefícios terapêuticos de socialização entre animais e pacientes. Mediante revisão bibliográfica, este trabalho reúne pesquisas acadêmicas que expõem os efeitos da Terapia Assistida por Animais (TAA) no ser humano, a fim de correlacioná-los com o conceito de neuroplasticidade desenvolvido em processos psicoterapêuticos. A pesquisa busca identificar os efeitos psicobiológicos observados na relação humano-animal, os processos cognitivos e motores estimulados pela TAA e, finalmente, como a TAA favorece a neuroplasticidade. A hipótese levantada é a de que o ser humano, com a tendência de ligar-se à natureza, pode construir um vínculo verdadeiro e autêntico com os animais. Verificou-se, na pesquisa realizada, que este contato, quando promovido pela TAA, estimula a neuroplasticidade, uma vez que produz efeitos psicossociais, psicofisiológicos, cognitivos e motores que auxiliam o indivíduo no processo terapêutico.Palavras chave: Terapia Assistida por Animais. Relação humano-animal. Efeitos psicobiológicos. Processoscognitivos e motores.Neuroplasticidade.
Mothers of autistic children often report poor mental health outcomes. One established risk factor for these outcomes is the child having a medical home. This study examined possible mediating variables (coping, social support) in this relationship in 988 mothers of autistic children from the 2017/2018 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The results of the multiple mediation model suggest the relationship between having a medical home and maternal mental health is largely explained by indirect associations with coping and social support. These findings suggest that clinical interventions for coping and social support provided by the medical home for mothers of autistic children may improve maternal mental health outcomes over and above implementation of a medical home.
Objectives: This mixed-methods study examined the relationship between pet ownership status and social connectedness, physical activity engagement, and the quality of life of older adults living in retirement villages.
Methods: A survey was distributed to older adults (N = 58) living in retirement villages in South Australia. Those who expressed interest (N = 16) took part in an additional diary study, whereby they reported their social and physical activities over the course of a week.
Results: Physical activity, social connectedness, and quality of life did not differ significantly based on pet ownership status. Social connectedness was positively related to the quality of life regardless of pet ownership status. Many pet owners described how their pets were integral to their lives.
Discussion: The notion of pet presence offers a promising pathway for future research. The strategies and policies that support pet ownership in retired villages require further investigation.
Animal-assisted crisis response (AACR) is an intervention that harnesses the human-animal bond for therapeutic benefit through specially trained animal-handler teams deployed to provide comfort following a mass traumatic event. During the months and years following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, therapy animals joined the campus community to promote healing and stress reduction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the sustained effects on bonding and stress in a sample of survivors of the tragedy who participated in animal-assisted crisis response. Data was collected through a quasi-experimental study of three intervention groups (i.e., discussion of AACR, viewing photos related to AACR, and engaging with therapy animals). Cortisol analysis indicated a reduction in stress post-intervention across groups with the largest difference in the therapy animal interaction group. Implications for AACR and addressing the psychological effects of mass traumas are provided.
Study design:
Qualitative study OBJECTIVES: To explore the unique experience of facilitators, barriers, rewards, and challenges related to pet ownership after spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting:
Zoom for Healthcare videoconferencing platform hosted from an American neuro-rehabilitation hospital in Colorado.
Methods:
Sixteen individuals with SCI participated in three semi-structured focus groups of 5-6 participants each. Resulting discussions were transcribed and coded using a hybrid approach to thematic analysis.
Results:
Experiences of pet ownership were categorized by their representativeness of four key themes: facilitators (conditions that make obtaining or maintaining pets easier), barriers (conditions that were prohibitive or that prevented people from having pets), rewards (benefits of pet ownership), and challenges (difficulties associated with pet ownership). Participants cited equipment, tools, and services as the most common facilitator for owning pets after SCI, with environment being the most commonly cited barrier. Companionship, love, and comfort/security were most commonly cited as rewards, while mobility was cited as a primary challenge of pet ownership after SCI. Additionally, two unexpected response themes emerged. Positive outweighs negative included assertions that benefits of having pets were not overshadowed by drawbacks, and Wishlist included desires for training and access to tools to facilitate pet ownership.
Conclusions:
Pet ownership is largely unexplored in individuals with SCI. Participants in this study indicated that pet ownership provides many benefits, though it is not without its challenges. Participants also noted the desire for training and resources to make pet ownership more accessible. Further exploration into informing development of those tools is warranted.
Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an emerging therapeutic option for a variety of diseases, and is characterized as the transfer of fecal microorganisms from a healthy donor into the intestinal tract of a diseased recipient. In human clinics, FMT has been used for treating diseases for decades, with promising results. In recent years, veterinary specialists adapted FMT in canine patients; however, compared to humans, canine FMT is more inclined towards research purposes than practical applications in most cases, due to safety concerns. Therefore, in order to facilitate the application of fecal transplant therapy in dogs, in this paper, we review recent applications of FMT in canine clinical treatments, as well as possible mechanisms that are involved in the process of the therapeutic effect of FMT. More research is needed to explore more effective and safer approaches for conducting FMT in dogs.
Bu çalışmada, Balıkesir İli Bandırma İlçesinde pet hayvan sahiplerinin sosyo-demografik yapısı, pet hayvanlara bakış açıları, besleme, yetiştirme ve barındırma ile ilgili uygulamalar tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Araştırma materyalini Bandırma İlçesinde yaşayan 18-70 yaş arası (ortalama 27.7) rastgele seçilen toplam 704 pet hayvan sahibine yüz yüze yapılan anket çalışmasından elde edilen veriler oluşturmuştur. Ankete katılım sağlayanların %58.2’sini kadın, %41.8’ini ise erkekler oluşturmuştur. Katılımcıların 182’si (%25.9) evli, 522’sinin ise (%74.1) bekar oldukları ortaya çıkmıştır. Katılımcılar içerisinde kedi sahipleri %37.5 ile en yüksek oranı oluştururken, bunu sırasıyla %35.5 ile köpek, %23.7 ile kuş, %14.2 ile balık ve %4.8 ile de diğer pet hayvanı sahipleri oluşturmuştur. Yetiştirilen hayvan türü ile cinsiyetler arası karşılaştırmada, köpek sahiplerinin %46.8’i kadın, %53.2’si erkek olarak bulunmuş ve köpek sahiplerinin cinsiyetleri arasındaki fark istatistiki olarak önemli (p
Kronik hastalıklar hem ülkemizde hem de dünyada giderek artmakta olan 21. yüzyılın en önemli sağlık sorunlarından biridir. Kronik hastalıklar yaşam boyu bakım gerektiren, kişilerin yaşam kalitesini etkileyen çoğu zaman ilerleyici hastalıklardır. Bu süreçte hastanın fonksiyonel yeteneklerini en üst düzeyde tutmak, hastalık ile uyumunu sağlamak ve semptomların gelişmesini önlemek için multidisipliner yaklaşımların kullanılması gerekmektedir. Hayvan destekli tedavi, insan-hayvan etkileşimine dayanan, kronik hastalıklar ve ruhsal bozukluklara bağlı fiziksel veya psikolojik sorunları olumlu yönde etkileyen alternatif bir tedavi türüdür. Dünyada giderek kullanımı artmakta olan hayvan destekli tedavi; kardiyovasküler hastalıklar, solunum hastalıkları, kanser, demans ve inme gibi kronik hastalıklarda önemli tamamlayıcı, alternatif tedavi çeşitlerinden biridir. Hayvan destekli tedavinin, sağlığın korunmasında, geliştirilmesinde, kronik hastalıkların getirdiği psikolojik, sosyal ve fiziksel yükün hafifletilmesinde önemli etkileri bulunmaktadır. Konuyla ilgili çalışmaların artırılmasına ve geliştirilmesine ihtiyaç vardır. Bu derleme ile hayvan destekli tedavi ve kronik hastalıklarda etkisinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır.
During two retreats in 2017 and 2020, a group of international scientists convened to explore the Human-Animal Bond. The meetings, hosted by the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace Leadership Institute, took a broad view of the human-dog relationship and how interactions between the two may benefit us medically, psychologically or through their service as working dogs (e.g. guide dogs, explosive detection, search and rescue, cancer detection). This Frontiers’ Special Topic has collated the presentations into a broad collection of 14 theoretical and review papers summarizing the latest research and practice in the historical development of our deepening bond with dogs, the physiological and psychological changes that occur during human-dog interactions (to both humans and dogs) as well as the selection, training and welfare of companion animals and working dogs. The overarching goals of this collection are to contribute to the current standard of understanding of human-animal interaction, suggest future directions in applied research, and to consider the interdisciplinary societal implications of the findings.
Kapitel enthält: emotionale, soziale und ethische Aspekte von Berührungen; Placeboeffekte; Embodiment; Haus- und Therapietiere; Einsamkeit. - Abstract: Im medizinischen Kontext können von erforderlichen Berührungen, die einem medizinischen oder pflegerischen Zweck dienen, soziale Berührungen unterschieden werden. Diese, oft spontan auftretenden Berührungen, erfüllen soziale oder emotionale Funktionen. Soziale Berührungen können beruhigend, tröstend, angst-, schmerz- oder stressreduzierend wirken. Es besteht somit die Möglichkeit, soziale Berührungen im medizinischen oder pflegerischen Kontext gezielt zu diesen Zwecken einzusetzen.
Social support has been linked to long-term physiological change and health status. However, the effects of social support on physiological functions and health have not been uniform. Understanding of these relationships may be fostered by isolating the elementary components of social support and studying their individual and interactive effects on physiological response. To examine the potential of this approach, we conducted an experiment in which subjects performed arithmetic problems in one of three social contexts: alone, observed by a same-sex stranger, or observed by a same-sex friend
Describes the development of the Relationship Closeness Inventory (RCI), which draws on the conceptualization of closeness as high interdependence between two people's activities proposed by Kelley et al. (1983). The current "closest" relationship of individuals (
N = 241) drawn from the college student population served as the basis for RCI development, with the closest relationship found to encompass several relationship types, including romantic, friend, and family relationships. The development and psychometric properties of the three RCI subscales (Frequency, Diversity, Strength), their scoring, and their combination to form an overall index of closeness are described. The RCI's test–retest reliability is reported and the association between RCI score and the longevity of the relationship is discussed. RCI scores for individuals' closest relationships are contrasted to those of not-close relationships, to a subjective closeness index, and to several measures of relationship affect, including Rubin's (1973) Liking and Loving scales. Finally, the ability of the RCI to predict relationship break up is contrasted to that of the Subjective Closeness Index, an index of the emotional tone of the relationship, and to relationship longevity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognitive appraisal theories of stress and emotion propose that cognitive appraisals precede physiological responses, whereas peripheralist theories propose that physiological arousal precedes cognitive processes. Three studies examined this issue regarding threat and challenge responses to potential stress. Study 1 supported cognitive appraisal theory by demonstrating that threat and challenge cognitive appraisals and physiological responses could be elicited experimentally by manipulating instructional set. Studies 2 and 3, in contrast, found that manipulations of physiological response patterns consistent with challenge and threat did not result in corresponding changes in cognitive appraisal. Appraisals in Study 3, however, were related to subjective pain independent of the physiological manipulation. These studies suggest a central role for cognitive appraisal processes in elicitation of threat and challenge responses to potentially stressful situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Autonomic responses were measured while 45 adult women performed a standard experimental stress task in the laboratory with only the experimenter present and 2 weeks later at home in the presence of a female friend, pet dog, or neither. Results demonstrated that autonomic reactivity was moderated by the presence of a companion, the nature of whom was critical to the size and direction of the effect. Ss in the friend condition exhibited higher physiological reactivity and poorer performance than subjects in the control and pet conditions. Ss in the pet condition showed less physiological reactivity during stressful tasks than Ss in the other conditions. The results are interpreted in terms of the degree to which friends and pets are perceived as evaluative during stressful task performance. Physiological reactivity was consistent across the laboratory and field settings.
Previous research suggests that anger has important social and health consequences, particularly cardiovascular health. The pathogenic aspects of anger have not been identified, however, in part because of a reliance on unidimensional measures of anger. The present article describes psychometric data for an inventory that is sensitive to the multidimensional nature of the anger construct. It was hypothesized that the newly developed Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI) would include scales reflective of the following dimensions of anger: frequency, duration, magnitude, mode of expression, hostile outlook, and range of anger-eliciting situations. The mode of expression dimension was expected to contain separate anger-in, anger-out, guilt, brood, and anger-discuss measures. The inventory was administered to two populations: male and female college students and male factory workers. Factor analyses of the MAI within the two samples showed that the frequency, duration, and magnitude dimensions clustered together to form an anger-arousal factor that accounted for 64% and 71% of the variance in the two samples, respectively. The range of anger-eliciting situations and hostile outlook emerged as separate dimensions, as hypothesized. Mode of anger expression was best described by two dimensions labeled anger-in and anger-out. Psychometric analyses of the scale showed that it possessed adequate test-retest reliability (r = 0.75) and high internal consistency (alpha = .84 and .89 for the two samples). The validity of the scale was supported by the expected pattern of relations with other inventories designed to assess anger or hostility. Comparisons of MAI scores between (college versus factory) and within (male versus female) populations were made.
The purpose of this article is to determine whether the positive association between social support and well-being is attributable more to an overall beneficial effect of support (main- or direct-effect model) or to a process of support protecting persons from potentially adverse effects of stressful events (buffering model). The review of studies is organized according to (a) whether a measure assesses support structure or function, and (b) the degree of specificity (vs. globality) of the scale. By structure we mean simply the existence of relationships, and by function we mean the extent to which one’s interpersonal relationships provide particular resources. Special attention is paid to methodological characteristics that are requisite for a fair comparison of the models. The review concludes that there is evidence consistent with both models. Evidence for a buffering model is found when the social support measure assesses the perceived availability of interpersonal resources that are responsive to the needs elicited by stressful events. Evidence for a main effect model is found when the support measure assesses a person’s degree of integration in a large social network. Both conceptualizations of social support are correct in some respects, but each represents a different process through which social support may affect well-being. Implications of these conclusions for theories of social support processes and for the design of preventive interventions are discussed.
The findings of this study confirm the independent importance of social factors in the determination of health status. Social data obtained during patients' hospitalization can be valuable in discriminating 1-year survivors. These social data can add to the prognostic discrimination beyond the effects of the well-known physiological predictors. More information is needed about all forms of human companionship and disease. Thus, it is important that future investigations of prognosis in various disease states include measures of the patient's social and psychological status with measures of disease severity. The phenomenon of pet ownership and the potential value of pets as a source of companionship activity or attention deserved more careful attention that that recorded in the literature. Almost half of the homes in the United States have some kind of pet. Yet, to our knowledge, no previous studies have included pet ownership among the social variables examined to explain disease distribution. Little cost is incurred by the inclusion of pet ownership in such studies, and it is certainly by the importance of pets in the lives of people today and the long history of association between human beings and companion animals. The existence of pets as important household members should be considered by those who are responsible for medical treatment. The need to care for a pet or to arrange for its care may delay hospitalization; it may also be a source of concern for patients who are hospitalized. Recognition of this concern by physicians, nurses, and social workers may alleviate emotional stress among such patients. The therapeutic uses of pets have been considered for patients hospitalized with mental illnesses and the elderly. The authors suggest that patients with coronary heart disease should also be included in this consideration. Large numbers of older patients with coronary heart disease are socially isolated and lonely. While it is not yet possible to conclude that pet ownership is beneficial to these patients, pets are an easily attainable source of psychological comfort with relatively few risks.
This study examined whether highly cynical individuals benefit less from social support during an acute stressor than individuals low in cynicism. College students (52 men, 52 women) performed a stressful speech task alone or in the presence of a supportive confederate. There was an interactive effect of social support and cynicism on cardiovascular reactivity: Low cynicism participants who received support has smaller increases in blood pressure during the speech than low cynicism participants without support and high cynicism participants with or without support. Participants' psychological stress appeared to mediate the main effects of support on blood pressure reactivity, but not the Support x Cynicism interaction. Results suggest that cynical attitudes may undermine the stress buffering potential of interpersonal support.
This study examined whether social support can reduce cardiovascular reactivity to an acute stressor. College students gave a speech in one of three social conditions: alone, in the presence of a supportive confederate, or in the presence of a nonsupportive confederate. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured at rest, before the speech, and during the speech. While anticipating and delivering their speech, supported and alone subjects exhibited significantly smaller increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressures than did nonsupported subjects. Supported subjects also exhibited significantly smaller increases in systolic blood pressure than did alone subjects before and during the speech. Men had higher stress-related increases in blood pressures than did women; but gender did not moderate the effects of social support on cardiovascular reactivity. These results provide experimental evidence of potential health benefits of social support during acute stressors.
To assess the value of service dogs for people with ambulatory disabilities.
Randomized, controlled clinical trial.
Environments of study participants.
Forty-eight individuals with severe and chronic ambulatory disabilities requiring use of wheelchairs who were recruited from advocacy and support groups for persons with muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury. Participants were matched on age, sex, marital status, race, and the nature and severity of the disability in order to create 24 pairs. Within each pair, participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or a wait-list control group.
Experimental group members received trained service dogs 1 month after the study began, and subjects in the wait-list control group received dogs in month 13 of the study.
Dependent variables evaluated were self-reported assessments of psychological well-being, internal locus of control, community integration, school attendance, part-time work status, self-esteem, marital status, living arrangements, and number of biweekly paid and unpaid assistance hours. Data collection occurred every 6 months over a 2-year period, resulting in five data collection points for all subjects.
Significant positive changes in all but two dependent measures were associated with the presence of a service dog both between and within groups (P<.001). Psychologically, all participants showed substantial improvements in self-esteem, internal locus of control, and psychological well-being within 6 months after receiving their service dog. Socially, all participants showed similar improvements in community integration. Demographically, all participants showed increases in school attendance and/or part-time employment. Economically, all participants showed dramatic decreases in the number of both paid and unpaid assistance hours.
Trained service dogs can be highly beneficial and potentially cost-effective components of independent living for people with physical disabilities.
In this review, the authors examine the evidence linking social support to physiological processes and characterize the potential mechanisms responsible for these covariations. A review of 81 studies revealed that social support was reliably related to beneficial effects on aspects of the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems. An analysis of potential mechanisms underlying these associations revealed that (a) potential health-related behaviors do not appear to be responsible for these associations; (b) stress-buffering effects operate in some studies; (c) familial sources of support may be important; and (d) emotional support appears to be at least 1 important dimension of social support. Recommendations and directions for future research include the importance of conceptualizing social support as a multidimensional construct, examination of potential mechanisms across levels of analyses, and attention to the physiological process of interest.
We tested whether the presence of a stranger reduces cardiovascular responses during stressful tasks if the evaluation potential of the stranger is minimized and whether cardiovascular responses are affected by the quality of support in a friendship. Undergraduate women performed stressful tasks in one of three conditions: Alone, with a same-sex Stranger, or with a same-sex best Friend. The stranger and friend could not hear participants' responses. Alone women had the greatest increases in SBP and HR while women in the Stranger and Friend conditions did not differ in their responses. In the Friend condition, HR responses were smallest in women who were highly satisfied with the support that they generally received from their friend. We conclude that the presence of a nonevaluative friend or stranger can reduce cardiovascular responses and that the quality of supportive ties modulates the impact of those ties on responses to stress.
Laboratory research indicates that the presence of a supportive other can reduce physiological responses to a stressor. Whether there are gender differences, either on the part of the provider or the recipient, in this social support effect is explored. Such differences might shed some light on the frequent epidemiological reports of gender differences in social support and health.
Male and female subjects gave an impromptu speech and received either standardized supportive or nonsupportive feedback from a male or female confederate. Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored continuously during baseline and speech periods.
Speakers with a supportive female audience showed a systolic increase of 25 mm Hg over baseline. Those with a nonsupportive female audience increased 36 mm Hg. A supportive male audience led to increases of 32 mm Hg, and a nonsupportive male audience 28 mm Hg. There was no significant effect of gender of subject.
Results indicate that social support provided by women reduced cardiovascular changes for both male and female speakers compared with presence of a nonsupportive female audience. Social support from men did not. These findings suggest a possible mechanism that might help explain the epidemiological literature on the relationship between gender, social support, and health. The findings are consistent with the notion that married men are healthier because they marry women. Women do not profit as much from marriage or suffer as much from separation, in terms of health outcomes, because the support they gain or lose is the less effective support of a man. These findings render more plausible the possibility that differences in social support might contribute to health differences, through the dampening of cardiovascular responses to stress.
Social support and integration have been linked to health and longevity in many correlational studies. To explain how social relationships might enhance health, investigators are examining the effects of social support on physiological processes implicated in disease. Much of this research focuses on testing the social support-reactivity hypothesis, which maintains that social support enhances health by reducing psychobiologic reactivity to stressors. This article identifies the basic assumptions, problems, and prospects of this research endeavor. The major problems discussed include: (a) inconsistent findings across studies; (b) unidentified cognitive and emotional mediators; (c) individual differences in response to social support; and (d) a lack of experimental studies on the role of social support in adjustment to chronic stress. Besides raising consciousness about these problems, I offer ideas for advancing research in this area.
In the present study, we evaluated the effect of a nonevaluative social support intervention (pet ownership) on blood pressure response to mental stress before and during ACE inhibitor therapy. Forty-eight hypertensive individuals participated in an experiment at home and in the physician's office. Participants were randomized to an experimental group with assignment of pet ownership in addition to lisinopril (20 mg/d) or to a control group with only lisinopril (20 mg/d). On each study day, blood pressure, heart rate, and plasma renin activity were recorded at baseline and after each mental stressor (serial subtraction and speech). Before drug therapy, mean responses to mental stress did not differ significantly between experimental and control groups in heart rate (94 [SD 6.8] versus 93 [6.8] bpm), systolic blood pressure (182 [8.0] versus 181 [8.3] mm Hg), diastolic blood pressure (120 [6.6] versus 119 [7.9] mm Hg), or plasma renin activity (9.4 [0.59] versus 9.3 [0.57] ng. mL(-1). h(-1)). Lisinopril therapy lowered resting blood pressure by approximately 35/20 mm Hg in both groups, but responses to mental stress were significantly lower among pet owners relative to those who only received lisinopril (P<0.0001; heart rate 81 [6.3] versus 91 [6.5] bpm, systolic blood pressure 131 [6.8] versus 141 [7.8] mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure 92 [6.3] versus 100 [6.8] mm Hg, and plasma renin activity 13.9 [0.92] versus 16.1 [0.58] ng. mL(-1). h(-1)). We conclude that ACE inhibitor therapy alone lowers resting blood pressure, whereas increased social support through pet ownership lowers blood pressure response to mental stress.
In this groundbreaking work, distinguished contributors explore the myriad relationships between networks of social support and the development, treatment, and rehabilitation of individuals with cardiovascular disease. Chapters span the range from conceptual to methodological issues, and take into account gender, environmental, and cultural differences. The book will provide a wealth of information for clinicians and students in the fields of behavioral medicine, psychophysiology, and cardiovascular disease.
Research findings have suggested that social support decreases cardiovascular reactivity and reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease. The authors describe 2 studies evaluating the association between social support and cardiovascular reactivity to a stressor: In both studies, it was predicted that the presence of a supportive person would exert a buffering effect on cardiovascular reactivity. In Study 1, 68 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: alone, supportive, and nonsupportive. In Study 2, 60 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: highly supportive, supportive, and nonsupportive. in both studies, a speech was the stressor: Results in both studies showed net significant differences in cardiovascular reactivity between supportive and nonsupportive conditions. The results failed to support the reactivity buffering effects of social support. Findings are explained in terms of evaluation apprehension theory, familiarity of support provider and level of social support.
An 18-item Likert-format Pet Attitude Scale was developed. It was found to have a Chronbach’s Alpha of.93 and test-retest reliability of .92. Correlations with the Mini-Mult, Eysenck Personality Inventory, Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, and the Personality Research Form were determined. Varimax rotation yielded three factors, labeled love and interaction, pets in home, and joy of pet ownership. Kennel workers had significantly higher scores than social work students, an indication of criterion-oriented validity as well as face validity.
We examined the role of social support in moderating cardiovascular reactivity to behavioral stress. Fifty female students performed a stressful math task while alone or in the presence of a close female friend. The friend-present condition was either high or low in evaluation potential. Subjects in the non-evaluative friend-present condition showed reduced systolic blood pressure reactivity compared to those alone during the task. Subjects in the evaluative friend-present condition did not differ from the others on any cardiovascular measure. Perceived closeness to the friend and length of the friendship positively correlated with size of the systolic blood pressure reduction in subjects assigned to friend-present conditions, regardless of evaluation condition. Simultaneous monitoring of the friends' cardiovascular activity revealed that the non-evaluative friends showed decreasing blood pressure during the task, whereas the evaluative friends did not. The findings suggest that the measurable benefit of social support may require protocols with minimal or no element of evaluation.
This volume is intended as a guide for doing social support research, as a compendium of . . . work in this field, and as a source of information on the implications of existing work for social policy. . . . We focus on nonprofessional (informal) social support provided by friends, relatives, and acquaintances.
This book is of special interest to the large interdisciplinary group of research professionals concerned with the role of psychosocial factors in both physical and mental health. It is also of special interest to practitioners involved in the increasing number of programs designed to support or establish natural helping networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
From among 250 MMPI items that discriminated significantly between teachers scoring high and teachers scoring low on the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory, two sets of 50 items were selected (principally on the basis of content) to form a Hostility (Ho) Scale and a Pharisaic virtue (Pv) scale. "The Ho scale… reveals a type of individual characterized by a dislike for and distrust of others. The Pv scale… reveals a type of person who described himself as preoccupied with morality and ridden with fears and tensions." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The effect of the presence of a friendly animal on children's blood pressures and heart rates while resting and their cardiovascular responses to verbalization were examined. The presence of the dog resulted in lower blood pressures both while the children (N = 38) were resting and while they were reading. The effect of the presence of the dog was greater when the dog was present initially than when it was introduced in the second half of the experiment. We speculate that the animal causes the children to modify their perceptions of the experimental situation and the experimenter by making both less threatening and more friendly. This study provides insight into the use of pets as adjuncts in psychotherapy.
(C) Williams & Wilkins 1983. All Rights Reserved.
A perceived availability of social support measure (the ISEL) was designed with independent subscales measuring four separate support functions. In a sample of college students, both perceived availability of social support and number of positive events moderated the relationship between negative life stress and depressive and physical symptomatology. In the case of depressive symptoms, the data fit a “buffering” hypothesis pattern, i.e., they suggest that both social support and positive events protect one from the pathogenic effects of high levels of life stress but are relatively unimportant for those with low levels of stress. In the case of physical symptoms, the data only partially support the buffering hypothesis. Particularly, the data suggest that both social support and positive events protect one from the pathogenic effects of high levels of stress but harm those (i.e., are associated with increased symptomatology) with low levels of stress. Further analyses suggest that self-esteem and appraisal support were primarily responsible for the reported interactions between negative life stress and social support. In contrast, frequency of past social support was not an effective life stress buffer in either the case of depressive or physical symptomatology. Moreover, past support frequency was positively related to physical symptoms and unrelated to depressive symptoms, while perceived availability of support was negatively related to depressive symptoms and unrelated to physical symptoms.
To examine the effects of social support on cardiovascular reactions to behavioral stress, the present study tested the relative contribution of three elements of social support: the presence of another person in the laboratory; the presence of a person considered to be a friend; and physical touch. Sixty undergraduate females were assigned to one of the following groups: alone (A); friend present-touch (FT); friend present-no touch (FNT); stranger present-touch (ST); and stranger present-no touch (SNT). Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measures were obtained across baseline phases and during presentation of two behavioral challenges (mental arithmetic, mirror-tracing). The findings suggest that neither the presence of a stranger nor physical touch are related to attenuated cardiovascular reactions to stress; rather, if the extent of cardiovascular reactivity is related to social support, the presence of a friend may be the important mediating variable.
In this study we investigated the effects of nonevaluative social interaction on the cardiovascular response to psychological challenge. Thirty-nine college-age females appeared accompanied ("Friend" condition) or unaccompanied ("Alone" condition) to an experimental laboratory. In the Friend condition, partners were present while the subject participated in two laboratory tasks, and the partners' evaluation potential was minimized by design. Subjects in the Friend condition showed reduced heart rate reactivity to both tasks, relative to the Alone group, an attenuated task-related systolic blood pressure response to one of the tasks, and a reduced diastolic blood pressure increase during a solitary interview. In two other instances, partner-related response reductions were apparent only for Type A subjects. None of these effects was accompanied by differences in task performance or self-reported emotional response. Interpersonal support may reduce cardiovascular responsivity to stress, an effect with possible implications for understanding the association between social relationships and cardiovascular risk.
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.
Social support and pet ownership, a nonhuman form of social support, have both been associated with increased coronary artery disease survival. The independent effects of pet ownership, social support, disease severity, and other psychosocial factors on 1-year survival after acute myocardial infarction are examined prospectively. The Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial provided physiologic data on a group of post-myocardial infarction patients with asymptomatic ventricular arrhythmias. An ancillary study provided psychosocial data, including pet ownership, social support, recent life events, future life events, anxiety, depression, coronary prone behavior, and expression of anger. Subjects (n = 424) were randomly selected from patients attending participating Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial sites and completed baseline psychosocial questionnaires. One year survival data were obtained from 369 patients (87%), of whom 112 (30.4%) owned pets and 20 (5.4%) died. Logistic regression indicates that high social support (p < 0.068) and owning a pet (p = 0.085) tend to predict survival independent of physiologic severity and demographic and other psychosocial factors. Dog owners (n = 87, 1 died) are significantly less likely to die within 1 year than those who did not own dogs (n = 282, 19 died; p < 0.05); amount of social support is also an independent predictor of survival (p = 0.065). Both pet ownership and social support are significant predictors of survival, independent of the effects of the other psychosocial factors and physiologic status. These data confirm and extend previous findings relating pet ownership and social support to survival among patients with coronary artery disease.
This study examines the possibility that social support operates as a moderator of cardiovascular reactivity in women. Two models by which social support may operate were examined: the direct effects and buffering models. Twenty-six subjects were exposed to four conditions while playing a video game: two levels of stress (low, high) and two levels of social support (alone, together). Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored continuously. Ratings of stress were obtained for each condition. Results indicated that the support manipulation produced significant main effects for diastolic blood pressure and stress ratings, with lower diastolic blood pressure and ratings observed in the "together" condition, and that the interaction between support and stress produced lower reactivity for the cardiovascular measures in the high stress (but not the low stress) condition. No interaction was found for the stress ratings. We conclude that the results provide support for both the buffering and direct effects models. Implications concerning the (within-subjects) design of the study and the stress ratings are discussed.
We investigated whether the effects on cardiovascular reactivity of social support from an audience member depend only on the behavior of that person or also depend on the relationship between the audience and the actor. That is, is there any added reduction in physiological response if the person who is nodding and smiling supportively is also a friend?
Ninety subjects gave a speech to an observer. In two of the conditions, this observer was a confederate of the experimenter and a stranger to the subject. This confederate acted in either a supportive or neutral manner during the speech. In the final condition, this observer was a friend, brought by the subject, who was then trained to show support in the same manner as the supportive confederate. The comparison of the two confederate conditions tested the effect of support, holding the relationship constant. The comparison of friend and confederate supportive conditions tested the effect of the relationship, holding the supportive behaviors constant. All participants were female.
Both supportive conditions produced significantly smaller cardiovascular increases than the confederate-neutral condition, and the friend-supportive condition produced significantly smaller systolic blood pressure increases than the confederate-supportive (friend-supportive: 7.9 mm Hg: confederate-supportive: 14.9 mm Hg; confederate-neutral: 22.9 mm Hg). Differences for diastolic pressure and heart rate were not significant, although the data followed the same pattern.
Social support from a friend attenuated cardiovascular reactivity in a laboratory setting to a greater degree than support from a stranger. The subjects' construal of the supportive behaviors can have an effect on reactivity, over and above the effects of the actual behaviors themselves.
Recent research has suggested that cardiovascular recovery from stress can play a potential role in hypertension pathogenesis. Sixty-nine studies were included in a meta-analytic review to evaluate the effect of various hypertension risk factors (e.g., race, lack of exercise) on cardiovascular recovery from stress. Small mean effect sizes were observed for studies examining hypertension status and race as risk factors associated with delayed diastolic blood pressure recovery. Lack of fitness was also associated with delayed heart rate recovery. These results revealed that, for the specified risk factors and cardiovascular variables, high-risk individuals exhibited delayed cardiovascular recovery as compared with low-risk individuals. Further, the relationships between hypertension status, race, and cardiovascular recovery were typically associated with the use of "active" laboratory stressors. The relationship between lack of fitness and cardiovascular recovery was also associated with the use of "active" and exercise laboratory stressors.
Research findings have suggested that social support decreases cardiovascular reactivity and reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease. The authors describe 2 studies evaluating the association between social support and cardiovascular reactivity to a stressor. In both studies, it was predicted that the presence of a supportive person would exert a buffering effect on cardiovascular reactivity. In Study 1, 68 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: alone, supportive, and nonsupportive. In Study 2, 60 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: highly supportive, supportive, and nonsupportive. In both studies, a speech was the stressor. Results in both studies showed no significant differences in cardiovascular reactivity between supportive and nonsupportive conditions. The results failed to support the reactivity buffering effects of social support. Findings are explained in terms of evaluation apprehension theory, familiarity of support provider, and level of social support.
The impact of pet ownership on depression was tested among a sample of gay and bisexual men (n = 1,872). Multivariate analyses, controlling for demographics and baseline depressive symptomatology, showed that neither pet ownership nor the presence of HIV infection was associated with depression. Depression was influenced by the presence of AIDS and by having relatively few confidants. Analyses among HIV-infected men only showed that persons with AIDS who owned pets reported less depression than persons with AIDS who did not own pets. This beneficial effect of pet ownership occurred principally among persons who reported fewer confidants. These results suggest that by enhancing companionship for some HIV-infected persons, pets may buffer the stressful impact of AIDS.
Oscillometric pressure is measured by analysing, in relation to the cuff pressure, low-amplitude cuff-pressure pulsations generated by each arterial pulse. The cuff pressure is sampled at the pulse rate, introducing measurement variations, which are compounded by artefactual pulses.
To study the consistency of measurements with and without artefacts using simulated waveforms.
The Propaq Smartcuf (with and without electrocardiographic synchronization), the Welch Allyn 52 000 (before and after its software had been upgraded), the Critikon DINAMAP 8100 and Compact TS and the Criticare 507 NJC were evaluated. Each monitor recorded 15 determinations at 120/80 (93) mmHg without and with either low-frequency or high-frequency artefacts generated by the Bio-Tek BP-Pump simulator. Consistency of measurements was defined as SD of less than 2 mmHg for at least two of the systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressures with all less than 3 mmHg.
All monitors except the Critikon 8100 satisfied the consistency criteria without artefacts with most SD less than 1 mmHg. Several satisfied the criteria with a severe low-frequency artefact (all recorded SD were less than 6 mmHg). None satisfied the criteria with a severe high-frequency artefact. High systolic blood pressures were typically recorded with a severe tremor artefact, though the Criticare device, which measures during cuff inflation, recorded lower systolic blood pressures. The Propaq device with electrocardiographic synchronization had the lowest variability, with synchronization increasing determination time.
Oscillometric monitors are more sensitive to a high-frequency artefact than they are to a low-frequency artefact. Signal-processing techniques can improve consistency of measurements. Simulators can evaluate a monitor's consistency with and without artefacts.
The underuse of cardiovascular recovery as an adjunct to reactivity may stem from a lack of research on how to assess the process reliably. We explore the test-retest reliability of three simple, intuitive approaches to measuring recovery, and of a more sophisticated curve-fitting technique. Eighteen young normotensive subjects experienced three stressors twice each, with 10-min baseline, 3-min task, and 20-min recovery periods and continuous monitoring of heart rate and blood pressure. Reactivity showed moderate reliability, but the three simple approaches to measuring recovery revealed essentially none. However, the curve-fitting approach, using a three-parameter (amount, speed, and level of recovery) logistic function was reliable. This approach, capturing the inherently dynamic process of cardiovascular recovery, may allow researchers to usefully add the assessment of recovery to paradigms exploring reactivity as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Motion artifact tends to degrade oscillometric noninvasive blood pressure measurement (NIBP) accuracy and other aspects of performance (measurement time, patient comfort, false-positive readings). Medical personnel generally have not fully appreciated the extent of these degradations, in part because NIBP provides no waveform display to allow visualization of artifact disruption (unlike the electrocardiography (ECG) and pulse oximetry (SpO2) patient channels). More importantly, the magnitude and frequency of NIBP errors has also gone unappreciated because the auditory noise produced by transport vibration prevents accurate quantification of NIBP accuracy by the traditional auscultatory method. To overcome these problems, a commercially available NIBP simulator was modified to permit the superimposition of repeatable motion artifact waveforms from a function generator onto known patient blood pressure profiles available in the NIBP simulator. The superimposed artifact waveforms had been collected under transport conditions. This methodology enabled comparisons between artifact-free NIBP readings, on the one hand, and artifact-contaminated readings on the other. Monitors under test were subjected to multiple combinations of patient and artifact profiles. Measurement errors were expressed as a percent deviation of the artifact-contaminated readings from the expected (artifact-free) readings. Statistical analyses of the data compared the performance of the different monitor types with nonparametric tests of inference (Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U test, and chi-squared test). These analyses demonstrated statistically significant differences in performance including accuracy, yield (incidence of values within various error categories), retries, measurement time, and false-positive readings under artifact-only conditions. The method further demonstrated that the monitor using ECG synchronization to filter motion artifact achieved statistically and clinically significant improvements in accuracy without compromising clinical expectations for measurement time. This approach provided a reproducible and quantifiable method by which to assess and differentiate the artifact tolerance of different NIBP technologies.
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