School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 9;10(1):11363. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68446-9.
There is notorious inconsistency regarding mental health benefits of dog ownership, partially due to repeated cross-sectional studies comparing dog owners and non-owners, without taking into account the heterogeneity of dog-owner dyads, especially the activities with which the owners are involved. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive framework of the most important dog human related activities and their impact on owner well-being. Six focus groups with 35 dog owners were conducted, and their audio transcripts thematically analysed. Dog human related activities and themes of activities were linked to their reported changes in well-being through matrix coding. A framework of 58 dog human related activities linked with their specific hedonic well-being, life satisfaction and eudaimonic well-being outcomes was generated. Most activities were reported to improve owner's well-being, (e.g. human-dog tactile interaction increases owner's self-esteem), and a minority was mainly associated with negative outcomes. The richness of the framework presented in this study reinforces the importance of assessing dog ownership well-being outcomes based on specific dog human related activities with which dog owners are involved. This new and systematic investigative approach should decrease inconsistencies in the field and facilitate mental health interventions and study designs of a higher level of evidence.
关于养犬对心理健康的益处存在着众所周知的不一致性，部分原因是反复进行的横断面研究比较了犬主和非犬主，而没有考虑到犬主对的异质性，特别是与主人参与的活动。本研究旨在制定一个与狗有关的最重要的活动及其对主人幸福感的影响的综合框架。通过 6 次有 35 名犬主参加的焦点小组，并对其音频记录进行主题分析。通过矩阵编码将人与狗相关的活动及其活动主题与他们报告的幸福感变化联系起来。生成了一个与特定的享乐幸福感、生活满意度和幸福论幸福感结果相关的 58 项人与狗相关活动的框架。大多数活动都被报告为提高了主人的幸福感（例如，人与狗的触觉互动增加了主人的自尊心），少数活动主要与负面结果相关。本研究提出的框架的丰富性强调了根据犬主参与的特定人与犬相关活动来评估犬主幸福感结果的重要性。这种新的和系统的研究方法应该减少该领域的不一致性，并促进更高证据水平的心理健康干预和研究设计。
