Does fido have a foot in the door? Social housing companion animal policies and policy decision-making in a Canadian city

McCabe, Erin; Brown, Cary A.; Tan, Maria; Gross, Douglas P.; Wilson, Donna M.; Carr, Eloise; Wallace, Jean E.; Miciak, Maxi

doi:10.1080/08882746.2021.1881745

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…While the effect sizes for our statistically significant effects (which ranged from η 2 p = 0.002 to 0.005 in the analyses of variance) are considered of small magnitude 66 and account for, at the most, approximately 0.05% of the variance in the prediction of the well-being measures, they do point to what appears to be a robust and generalizable trend. Our findings also call for a deeper reflection about pet ownership in the context of social inequalities and disadvantage 67 , 68 ; our results indicate that in order to reap the benefits of pet ownership, people need sufficient personal and financial resources, and a lack of these resources may turn pet ownership into a burden for well-being at times of acute stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Pet ownership and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

Amiot

Gagné

Bastian

2022

Sci Rep

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The question of pet ownership contributing to human well-being has received mixed empirical evidence. This contrasts with the lay intuition that pet ownership contributes positively to wellness. In a large representative sample, we investigate the differences that may exist between pet vs. non-pet owners in terms of their well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, and examine among different sociodemographic strata, for whom pet ownership can be more vs. less beneficial. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among Canadian adults (1220 pet owners, 1204 non-pet owners). Pet owners reported lower well-being than non-pet owners on a majority of well-being indicators; this general pet ownership effect held when accounting for pet species (dogs, cats, other species) and number of pets owned. Compared to owners of other pets, dog owners reported higher well-being. When examining the effect of pet ownership within different socioeconomic strata, being a pet owner was associated with lower well-being among: women; people who have 2 + children living at home; people who are unemployed. Our results offer a counterpoint to popular beliefs emphasising the benefits of pets to human wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic and confirm the importance of accounting for sociodemographic factors to further understand the experience of pet ownership.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Pet ownership and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

Amiot

Gagné

Bastian

2022

Sci Rep

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“…Moreover, the assessment by staff and management of whether a tenant is capable of keeping a pet properly or not might be further linked to the practices of stigmatization and marginalization in terms of the tenant being merely seeded as a psychiatric patient (Sayce, 1998(Sayce, , 2016. Tenants from our study reported that they did not feel equally treated, which was not only a matter of paternalistic rules but also the discriminations such as similarly described in other studies about companion animals (Power, 2017;Toohey and Krahn, 2018;McCabe et al, 2021). To compare, people in ordinary tenancies or as homeowners do not need to demonstrate their abilities in advance to keep a pet.…”

Section: Limits To Keeping Pets In Supported Housingmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…In a recent study, Fossey et al (2020) found that pets help people with mental health problems to cope with experienced loneliness at home and promote companionship. From a broader view, housing studies about (older) people experiencing homelessness, disabilities, and low income showed discriminations and insecurities for companion animals regarding their tenancies (Power, 2017;Toohey and Krahn, 2018;McCabe et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human-Animal Relationships in Supported Housing: Animal Atmospheres for Mental Health Recovery

2021

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Being in a relationship with an animal can promote the well-being of people. For many individuals, this usually takes place at home. This study reports about homes for people with mental health problems (with or without co-occurring substance use), who live in supported housing operated by public landlords, entailing tenancies that are usually stricter regarding their pet policies than ordinary homes. We thus addressed the following research questions through ethnographic fieldwork at seven distinct places: which types of human–animal relationships occur in supported housing, and how do they affect the tenants? We analyzed the collected data informed by the Grounded Theory approach and found three types of human–animal relationships within supported housing affecting the tenants differently, namely, “no animals,” “visiting animals,” and “shared/sole ownership of animals.” Animals in the buildings can stage atmospheres that promote solidarity and connectedness among people. In contrast, situations in which animals are forbidden can create emotional tensions between tenants and staff or landlords. When discussing fostering animal atmospheres and limits to keeping pets, we concluded that animals can contribute to the mental health recovery of tenants by creating acknowledgment and rootedness. Therefore, public housing services need to guarantee equal rights to the tenants as they do with every citizen, including the right to keep a pet.

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“…Although Parsell pushes back against Othering, a chapter on the social determinants of health with a focus on neurodiversity and the stigmatized "crazy" or "addicted" identity and homelessness/home would be welcome. This added element would better reflect that those considered disabled are disproportionately homeless or in danger of being homeless (McCabe et al, 2021).…”

Section: Intersectional Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%