Cargando…

The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer

There has been almost no research on associations of companion animals with quality of life in sexual minorities. Because gay and bisexual men have less social support than their heterosexual peers, some have argued that pet companionship could provide emotional support, while others have argued the...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wright, Morgan M., Schreiner, Pamela, Rosser, B. R. Simon, Polter, Elizabeth J., Mitteldorf, Darryl, West, William, Ross, Michael W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888196/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31766206
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224457
_version_ 1783475172867571712
author Wright, Morgan M.
Schreiner, Pamela
Rosser, B. R. Simon
Polter, Elizabeth J.
Mitteldorf, Darryl
West, William
Ross, Michael W.
author_facet Wright, Morgan M.
Schreiner, Pamela
Rosser, B. R. Simon
Polter, Elizabeth J.
Mitteldorf, Darryl
West, William
Ross, Michael W.
author_sort Wright, Morgan M.
collection PubMed
description There has been almost no research on associations of companion animals with quality of life in sexual minorities. Because gay and bisexual men have less social support than their heterosexual peers, some have argued that pet companionship could provide emotional support, while others have argued the opposite, that having a pet is another stressor. This analysis examines the association between having dogs, cats, both animals, or no animals and quality of life using the 12-item Short Form (SF-12) mental and physical composite quality of life scores for gay and bisexual prostate cancer survivors, post-treatment. Participants were 189 gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, who completed online surveys in 2015. Linear regression analysis found that participants with cats and participants with dogs had lower mental quality of life scores than participants without pets. After adjustment for covariates, mental health scores remained significantly lower for cat owners, dog owners, and owners of both animals compared to those of participants who did not have pets. No differences were seen for physical quality of life scores after adjustment. We conclude that pet companionship may be a net stressor for gay and bisexual men following prostate cancer treatment. As this is the first study of pet companionship in sexual minorities, further research is needed to confirm the reliability of these findings, generalizability, and temporality of the association.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6888196
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-68881962019-12-09 The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer Wright, Morgan M. Schreiner, Pamela Rosser, B. R. Simon Polter, Elizabeth J. Mitteldorf, Darryl West, William Ross, Michael W. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article There has been almost no research on associations of companion animals with quality of life in sexual minorities. Because gay and bisexual men have less social support than their heterosexual peers, some have argued that pet companionship could provide emotional support, while others have argued the opposite, that having a pet is another stressor. This analysis examines the association between having dogs, cats, both animals, or no animals and quality of life using the 12-item Short Form (SF-12) mental and physical composite quality of life scores for gay and bisexual prostate cancer survivors, post-treatment. Participants were 189 gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, who completed online surveys in 2015. Linear regression analysis found that participants with cats and participants with dogs had lower mental quality of life scores than participants without pets. After adjustment for covariates, mental health scores remained significantly lower for cat owners, dog owners, and owners of both animals compared to those of participants who did not have pets. No differences were seen for physical quality of life scores after adjustment. We conclude that pet companionship may be a net stressor for gay and bisexual men following prostate cancer treatment. As this is the first study of pet companionship in sexual minorities, further research is needed to confirm the reliability of these findings, generalizability, and temporality of the association. MDPI 2019-11-13 2019-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6888196/ /pubmed/31766206 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224457 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wright, Morgan M.
Schreiner, Pamela
Rosser, B. R. Simon
Polter, Elizabeth J.
Mitteldorf, Darryl
West, William
Ross, Michael W.
The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
title The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
title_full The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
title_fullStr The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
title_full_unstemmed The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
title_short The Influence of Companion Animals on Quality of Life of Gay and Bisexual Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
title_sort influence of companion animals on quality of life of gay and bisexual men diagnosed with prostate cancer
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888196/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31766206
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224457
work_keys_str_mv AT wrightmorganm theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT schreinerpamela theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT rosserbrsimon theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT polterelizabethj theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT mitteldorfdarryl theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT westwilliam theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT rossmichaelw theinfluenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT wrightmorganm influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT schreinerpamela influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT rosserbrsimon influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT polterelizabethj influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT mitteldorfdarryl influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT westwilliam influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer
AT rossmichaelw influenceofcompanionanimalsonqualityoflifeofgayandbisexualmendiagnosedwithprostatecancer