The Significance of Pets for Vulnerable Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Explorative Qualitative Study
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Procedures
2.2. Questionnaire
2.3. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Participant Characteristics
3.2. Daily Life-Related Themes
3.2.1. Countermeasure Inconveniences
CL3: “When I arrived at the store… I had forgotten my face mask… So, I had to beg other people for a mask …”.
3.2.2. Relational Aspects
CL4: “Well not a lot of visitors… we… did keep our distance… Because my friend, she would still come inside sometimes… and the groceries, we had those delivered… I didn’t go out for groceries myself…”.
3.2.3. Work-Related Aspects
IC4: “During the past period, I regularly had the problem that people were quarantined and couldn’t work… and me too… When one of the roommates, who had a cold… well then you have to get tested and well yeah… that always causes stress”.
3.3. Pet-Related Themes
3.3.1. Stability, Continuity
CL2: “Well, I cannot say that it has changed… no… Because she has gotten everything she usually had, so… She went out once a day and good food and such… So, in that sense nothing changed… And inside… nothing really changed either.”
3.3.2. Attachment
CL5: “Yeah, so uh… and it is a sweet animal and also a good guard animal… I would say if someone rings the doorbell then he barks… But, in the evening then he doesn’t bark… in the evenings, he is always on his bench so…”.
3.3.3. Activities
CL1: “That dog keeps me going also, that happens unnoticed… the walking and uh… get on the sidewalk… get off the sidewalk… and everything that you encounter on your way… but what if I didn’t have that dog anymore… what would you do? Read the newspaper?”.
3.3.4. Social Contact
IC4: “Anyway… it’s for your social contacts… Other dog owners they too uh… If you have mutual interests, it makes it easier to make contact and uh… yeah…”.
IC4: “If someone goes there without the pet… Then it is difficult to connect… Difficult to communicate with her… And then you have uh… You have nothing to talk about”.
3.3.5. Pleasant Feelings
IC1: “He is always happy… yeah… you get support from it… from a dog… We always had dogs…”.
3.3.6. Downsides
CL3: “Yeah yeah... and sometimes very persistently… There has been a time because I sleep downstairs out of necessity. That has also been taken care of through medical support by the way… that I have that bed… But uh… it is… yeah... because… Sometimes in the middle of the night she starts to hunt… and runs up and down the sofa over there that she has already ruined… and at five o’clock in the morning or something like that…”.
4. Discussion
4.1. Findings
4.2. Limitations, Strengths and Future Research
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
- What is your sex?
- What is your age?
- Are you a client or informal caregiver?
- What kind of pet do you own? Do you have more than one pet? What is the breed, age and health of the animal?
- How long have you owned your pet?
- What score would you give the bond with your pet from 1 to 10?
- What score would you give the support that you receive from your pet from 1 to 10?
- How much would you miss your pet if it would be gone from 1 to 10?
- What score would you give your current life?
- How much did the COVID-19 pandemic impact you from 1 to 10?
- Can you tell us something about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected you?
- What type of activities do you undertake with your pet?
- What does your pet mean to you? Can you provide some examples?
- Did the significance of your pet change during the pandemic? If so, how?
- Can you tell us something about downsides to owning a pet? Were there additional downsides due to the pandemic?
- Your pet has to be cared for. Do you rely on others to help you care for your pet? How?
- If others are partly responsible for your pet’s care, what does that mean to you? And for your relationship with this person?
- Do you have a partner? What does your household look like?
- How many friends and acquintances do you see regularly? Would you like to see them more or less often?
- Are you supported by friends and family? Could you use more support? If so, how?
- If you would have to give the amount and quality of support from friends and family a score from 1 to 10?
- How often do you see professional caregivers? Who are these?
- How do professional caregivers support you? Do you think this is sufficient?
- How would you score the amount and quality of support that your receive from professional caregivers from 1 to 10?
- This question is about the extent to which you are able to walk. A score of 1 means that you are unable to walk yourself and a score of 10 means that you experience no problems walking.
- This question is about the extent to which you are able to wash and dress yourself. A score of 1 means that you are unable to wash or dress yourself and 10 means that you have no problem washing or dressing yourself.
- This question is about the extent to which you can perform your activities of daily living (for instance, household, family, and leisure time activities). A score of 1 means that you are unable to perform your activities of daily living and 10 means you have no problems performing your activities of daily living.
- This question is about the extent to which you experience pain or discomfort. A score of 1 means that you experience extreme pain or discomfort and a score of 10 means you experience no pain or discomfort.
- This question is about your mood. A score of 1 means that you feel extremely anxious or sad and a score of 10 means you are not anxious or sad.
- Now we want to know how good or bad your health is TODAY on a scale from 1 to 100, with 100 being the best health you can imagine and 1 being the worst health that you can imagine.
Appendix B
Attachment to Pet Rating | Support from Pet Rating | Missing the Pet Rating | Current Life Rating | Burdened by COVID-19 Rating | Support from Friends and Family | Support from Formal Caregivers Rating | |
CL1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
CL2 | 7 or 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 or 7 | N/A | 7 | 8 or 9 |
CL3 | 8 | 7 | 8 | N/A | 7 | 8 | 9 |
CL4 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 or 9 | 1 | 10 | 10 |
CL5 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 or 9 | 7 or 8 | 8 | 9 |
IC1 (Proxy) | 8 (8) | 8 (8) | 10 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
IC2 (Proxy) | 8 (varies daily) | 7 (9) | 8 (9) | 5 (6 or 7) | 6 (6) | 7 | 9 |
IC3 (Proxy) | 8 or 9 (10) | 7 (8) | 8 (10) | 6 (8) | 1 (1) | 8 | 10 |
IC4 (Proxy) | 8 (8) | 8 (7) | 8 (9) | 8 (5) | 6.5 | N/A | N/A |
Appendix C
Ability to Walk | Ability to Dress/Wash | Ability to Perform ADL | Pain or Discomfort 3 | Mood | Health Today | |
CL1 | 7 | 7 or 8 | 8 | 10 | 7 or 8 | 70 |
CL2 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 65 |
CL3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 75 |
CL4 | 5 | 3 or 4 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 50 |
CL5 | N/A | 10 | 10 | Regularly | 8 | 90 |
IC1 Proxy 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 50 |
IC2 Proxy 2 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 30 |
IC3 Proxy 2 | 5 or 6 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 80 |
IC4 Proxy 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
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Older Adults in LTC | Gender (Care Recipient) | Age (Care Recipient) | Pet (Breed) | Pet Age |
---|---|---|---|---|
CL1 | Male | 79 | Dog (Labrador Retriever) | 2.5 |
CL2 | Male | 80 | Dog (Mixed Breed) | 6 |
CL3 | Male | 82 | Cat (Mixed Breed) | 1 |
CL4 | Female | 66 | Dog (Boomer) | 9 |
CL5 | Female | 79 | Dog (Mixed Breed) | 2 |
Caregivers | ||||
IC1 | Male (Female) | 71(64) | Dog (Boomer) | 4 |
IC2 | Female (Male) | 65 (63) | Dog (Stabyhoun) | 5 |
IC3 | Female (Male) | 65 (63) | Dogs (Jack Russel Terrier and Maltese Dog) | 11, 11 |
IC4 | Female (Female) | 62 (unknown) | Dogs (Poodles) | 14, 11, and 2.5 |
Daily Life-Related Themes | Example Codes |
---|---|
Countermeasure Inconveniences | Face Masks Closed Facilities |
Relational Aspects | Irritability Less Contact with Others |
Work-Related Aspects | Working from Home Work Pressure |
Pet-Related Themes | Example Codes |
Stability, Continuity | Daily Care for the Pet Reliable |
Attachment | Friendship Sense of Safety Emotional Support |
Activities | Walking/Cycling Dog Goes on Outings with Owners |
Social Contact | Meet New/Other People The Pet and Third Parties |
Pleasant Feelings | Cosiness, Homely The Pet Greets Enthusiastically |
Downsides | Cannot Go Out Too Long Dog Walking in Bad Weather |
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Reniers, P.W.A.; Leontjevas, R.; Declercq, I.J.N.; Enders-Slegers, M.-J.; Gerritsen, D.L.; Hediger, K. The Significance of Pets for Vulnerable Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Explorative Qualitative Study. Animals 2022, 12, 2752. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12202752
Reniers PWA, Leontjevas R, Declercq IJN, Enders-Slegers M-J, Gerritsen DL, Hediger K. The Significance of Pets for Vulnerable Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Explorative Qualitative Study. Animals. 2022; 12(20):2752. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12202752
Chicago/Turabian StyleReniers, Peter W. A., Ruslan Leontjevas, Ine J. N. Declercq, Marie-José Enders-Slegers, Debby L. Gerritsen, and Karin Hediger. 2022. "The Significance of Pets for Vulnerable Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Explorative Qualitative Study" Animals 12, no. 20: 2752. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12202752