A framework for understanding how activities associated with dog ownership relate to human well-being

Abstract

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.

Figure 1

Dog human related activities classification scheme.

Figure 2

Heat map of all dog human related activities and their respective well-being outcomes. The darker the colour in the cell higher is the relative frequency of mentions of the activity (rows) in relation to the well-being outcome in the column. E.g. ‘looking after the dog’ (dark cell) was mentioned to increase purpose in life more times than ‘running with the dog’ (light cell). Nv and Pv (negative and positive valence, respectively), Ha and La (high and low arousal, respectively), Aut (autonomy), Env (environmental mastery), Per (personal growth), Pur (purpose in life), Pos (positive relations), Sel (self-acceptance), LS (life satisfaction).

Figure 3

Model of impact on affect (valence and arousal) for all themes of dog human related activities. Each coloured quadrant contains themes of activities that increase an aspect of affect, while white areas contain themes that were reported to cause reduction of that aspect of affect. The spatial position of items within quadrants is not related to any difference in intensity. Themes in bold: had a high frequency of mentions in the well-being element reported (10% or more). Black: moderate frequency of the mentions (5.0–9.9%). Grey: low frequency of the mentions (0.01–4.9%).

Figure 4

All themes of dog human related activities reported to impact on eudaimonic well-being. Themes in bold: high frequency of the mentions in the element of well-being reported (10% or more). Black: moderate frequency of the mentions (5.0–9.9%). Grey: low frequency of the mentions (0.01–4.9%). A green ‘thumbs-up’ indicates that the activity is beneficial to the referred well-being, while a red ‘thumbs-down’ shows the activity hinders that well-being. A few activities can be both beneficial and detrimental depending on the specific context of the interaction.