O efeito da posse de animais de estimação na saúde mental de adultos

Abstract

Mental health is considered an integral part of human’s health. It is determined as a state of well-being in which the individual perform the abilities in a satisfactory manner. Mental health is determined by biological, social and environmental factors. Among individual and collective factors that influence mental health, there is the interaction with domestic animals. This interaction can promote mental health and present therapeutic effects for patients diagnosed with mental disorders. However, there are few national studies to measure these results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of having domestic animals in Brazilian adult’s mental health. The sample consisted in 549 participants, divided into four groups: dog’s guardians, other domestic animals guardians, people who share spaces with domestic animals but are not their guardians and people who do not live with domestic animal and are guardians of any domestic animal. The participants answered to an online survey, with questions about sociodemographic variants, their life’s context and their mental health background. The participants were also evaluated in relation to the aspects of their mental health (evaluated by the General Mental Health Questionnaire – GSQ–12 and by the Anxiety, Depression and Stress scale (EADS-21), interpersonal relationship difficulties (evaluated with the instrument Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale - LAPS), all available in an online platform. The guardian’s groups presented higher commitment with mental health compared to the other groups. Furthermore, other sociodemographic variants revealed impacts in mental health and interpersonal relationship problems rather than the possession of domestic animals. The discussion takes place in the studies about the contribution of various factors for the participants’ mental health and the conclusion is that, although guardians present higher commitment with mental health, domestic animals can be a support to lessen adverse conditions.