Brooks Helen L, Rogers Anne, Kapadia Dharmi, Pilgrim Jack, Reeves David, Vassilev Ivaylo
Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Greater Manchester, School of Community Based Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Chronic Illn. 2013 Jun;9(2):87-102. doi: 10.1177/1742395312452620. Epub 2012 Jul 9.
To explore in the context of peoples' personal social networks, the contribution that pets make to 'the work' associated with the management of long-term conditions.
Mixed methods survey with nested parallel qualitative study; 300 participants were drawn from diabetes and chronic heart disease registers of General Practices across Greater Manchester in the North West of England. Notions of 'work' were used to describe the illness and everyday activities associated with chronic illness.
Nineteen percent of participants identified at least one pet within their network. Pets contributed mostly to managing emotions (emotional work), to enhancing a sense of self identity (biographical work) and to a lesser extent practical tasks (everyday work). There were indicators that pets mediated relationships for people living with a long-term condition through very weak ties with others in domestic and community settings.
The findings suggest that pets have unique qualities and are not simply substitutes for human relationships in long-term condition management. The study has potential implications for furthering a social contextual analysis of chronic illness, the understanding of relationships, and the meaning and the role of companion animals in long-term condition management.
在人们的个人社交网络背景下，探讨宠物对与长期病症管理相关的“工作”所做的贡献。
采用混合方法调查并嵌套平行定性研究；300名参与者来自英格兰西北部大曼彻斯特地区全科医疗的糖尿病和慢性心脏病登记册。用“工作”的概念来描述与慢性病相关的疾病和日常活动。
19%的参与者在其社交网络中识别出至少一只宠物。宠物主要有助于管理情绪（情感工作）、增强自我认同感（传记工作），在较小程度上有助于完成实际任务（日常工作）。有迹象表明，宠物通过与家庭和社区环境中其他人的非常微弱的联系，为患有长期病症的人调节人际关系。
研究结果表明，宠物具有独特的特质，在长期病症管理中并非简单地替代人际关系。该研究对于推进慢性病的社会情境分析、对人际关系的理解以及伴侣动物在长期病症管理中的意义和作用具有潜在意义。
