Cargando…

Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with lower quality of life, reduced social participation, and decreased self-efficacy. The COVID-19 pandemic has had documented effects on the health and wellbeing of people with and without MS. Previous research has demonstrated the positive impact...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Oliver-Hall, Holly, Ratschen, Elena, Tench, Christopher R., Brooks, Helen, Constantinescu, Cris S., Edwards, Laura
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8656830/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34886405
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312683
_version_ 1784612375875289088
author Oliver-Hall, Holly
Ratschen, Elena
Tench, Christopher R.
Brooks, Helen
Constantinescu, Cris S.
Edwards, Laura
author_facet Oliver-Hall, Holly
Ratschen, Elena
Tench, Christopher R.
Brooks, Helen
Constantinescu, Cris S.
Edwards, Laura
author_sort Oliver-Hall, Holly
collection PubMed
description Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with lower quality of life, reduced social participation, and decreased self-efficacy. The COVID-19 pandemic has had documented effects on the health and wellbeing of people with and without MS. Previous research has demonstrated the positive impact pets can have for people living with long-term conditions. Objectives: To explore the rates of pet ownership and pet attachment in people living with MS and pet ownership associations with quality of life, satisfaction with social roles, and self-efficacy scores; and to explore the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on people’s perceived relationships with their pets. Materials and Methods: A postal questionnaire was distributed to members of a local MS Register and a control group of people without MS. The questionnaire assessed quality of life, satisfaction with social roles, self-efficacy, the perceived roles of pets, and pet-related concerns experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: No apparent difference in attachment to pets was found between the patient and control groups. Pet ownership and level of attachment were not associated with differences in quality of life or self-efficacy scores in people living with MS. Using multiple regression analysis, pet ownership was associated with a decrease in satisfaction with participation in social roles, but with the estimated effect being small compared to having a diagnosis of MS or being unemployed. Most participants reported that pets had positive roles during the pandemic, and the most reported pet-related concern was access to veterinary treatment. Conclusion: Pet owners both with and without MS reported subjective benefits to their wellbeing from pet ownership during COVID-19, although analysis suggested that pet ownership was associated with a reduction in satisfaction with social roles. The study had several limitations and suggestions are made for future work.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8656830
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86568302021-12-10 Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19 Oliver-Hall, Holly Ratschen, Elena Tench, Christopher R. Brooks, Helen Constantinescu, Cris S. Edwards, Laura Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with lower quality of life, reduced social participation, and decreased self-efficacy. The COVID-19 pandemic has had documented effects on the health and wellbeing of people with and without MS. Previous research has demonstrated the positive impact pets can have for people living with long-term conditions. Objectives: To explore the rates of pet ownership and pet attachment in people living with MS and pet ownership associations with quality of life, satisfaction with social roles, and self-efficacy scores; and to explore the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on people’s perceived relationships with their pets. Materials and Methods: A postal questionnaire was distributed to members of a local MS Register and a control group of people without MS. The questionnaire assessed quality of life, satisfaction with social roles, self-efficacy, the perceived roles of pets, and pet-related concerns experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: No apparent difference in attachment to pets was found between the patient and control groups. Pet ownership and level of attachment were not associated with differences in quality of life or self-efficacy scores in people living with MS. Using multiple regression analysis, pet ownership was associated with a decrease in satisfaction with participation in social roles, but with the estimated effect being small compared to having a diagnosis of MS or being unemployed. Most participants reported that pets had positive roles during the pandemic, and the most reported pet-related concern was access to veterinary treatment. Conclusion: Pet owners both with and without MS reported subjective benefits to their wellbeing from pet ownership during COVID-19, although analysis suggested that pet ownership was associated with a reduction in satisfaction with social roles. The study had several limitations and suggestions are made for future work. MDPI 2021-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8656830/ /pubmed/34886405 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312683 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Oliver-Hall, Holly
Ratschen, Elena
Tench, Christopher R.
Brooks, Helen
Constantinescu, Cris S.
Edwards, Laura
Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19
title Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19
title_full Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19
title_fullStr Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19
title_short Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19
title_sort pet ownership and multiple sclerosis during covid-19
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8656830/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34886405
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312683
work_keys_str_mv AT oliverhallholly petownershipandmultiplesclerosisduringcovid19
AT ratschenelena petownershipandmultiplesclerosisduringcovid19
AT tenchchristopherr petownershipandmultiplesclerosisduringcovid19
AT brookshelen petownershipandmultiplesclerosisduringcovid19
AT constantinescucriss petownershipandmultiplesclerosisduringcovid19
AT edwardslaura petownershipandmultiplesclerosisduringcovid19