Ryan Sara, Ziebland Sue
Health Experiences Research Group, Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.
Sociol Health Illn. 2015 Jan;37(1):67-80. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12176.
There is mounting evidence that pets are associated with physiological, psychological and social benefits for humans. Much of this research has come from western countries, where there have been consistent calls for greater engagement with pet ownership and health. Drawing on a secondary analysis of 61 in-depth interviews with people, or carers of people, with long-term conditions, we explore how pets feature in people's narrative accounts of their experiences. Our findings demonstrate the multifaceted nature of people's relationships with pets, and the embedded and embodied ways in which human-nonhuman interactions are played out in narratives of chronic illness. Our study differs from other work on pets and health in that, by returning to the interview video recordings, we were able to explore the sometimes three-way interactions, the co(a)gency, between participants, pets and researchers. Pets were often presented as important family members, yet the researchers' responses to the presence or talk about pets was often markedly different from their reactions to other household members. We conclude with cautioning against the downgrading of pets in narrative health research. Narrative approaches may invite participants to talk about what is important to them, yet they clearly have limitations in practice.
越来越多的证据表明，宠物对人类的生理、心理和社交有益。这项研究大多来自西方国家，在这些国家，人们一直呼吁更多地参与宠物饲养并关注宠物健康。通过对61位患有长期疾病的人或其护理人员进行的深入访谈进行二次分析，我们探讨了宠物在人们对自身经历的叙述中是如何呈现的。我们的研究结果表明了人与宠物关系的多面性，以及在慢性病叙述中人类与非人类互动所呈现出的内在和具体方式。我们的研究与其他关于宠物与健康的研究不同之处在于，通过回看访谈视频记录，我们能够探究参与者、宠物和研究人员之间有时存在的三方互动及协同作用。宠物常常被视为重要的家庭成员，但研究人员对宠物在场或谈论宠物的反应，往往与他们对其他家庭成员的反应明显不同。我们在结论中提醒注意在叙述性健康研究中不要贬低宠物。叙述性方法可能会促使参与者谈论对他们重要的事情，但在实践中显然有其局限性。
