Thomas F. Garrity

Pet Ownership and Attachment as Supportive Factors in the Health of the Elderly

AbstractIn order to examine pet ownership and pet attachment as factors supporting the health of the elderly, a national probability sample of Americans 65 years of age and older was drawn. Participants answered telephone survey questions regarding pet ownership, life stress, social support, depression, and recent illness. In multiple regression analyses, pet ownership failed to predict depression and illness behavior, while pet attachment significantly predicted depression but not illness experience. In a group with particularly great distress (the bereaved), pet ownership and strong attachment were significantly associated with less depression only when the number of available confidants was minimal.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (Laps)

AbstractThis paper reports on the development and psychometric evaluation of a scale for assessing emotional attachment of individuals to their pets. Previous attachment scales have suffered variously from low internal consistency and reliance on small or nonrepresentative samples for their development. Telephone interviews of a random, representative sample of 412 pet owners in Fayette County, Kentucky, were completed in September 1990; a 69.5 percent response rate was achieved. From a preliminary set of 42 questions, a final 23-question instrument, the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), was developed, having excellent psychometric properties. The scale is suitable for use with dog and cat owners. Data on internal consistency, factor structure, and item response theory (IRT) modeling are presented, along with correlations between the LAPS and several domains of variables known to relate to pet attachment.

The influence of recent life experience on the health of college freshmen

from the records of a University’s Health Service [l-4]. When based on surveys, studies of the prevalence of disease among students may reveal interesting associations between reported illness and demographic or social characteristics of interest; and prevalence data obtained from health records may provide useful information for therapeutic or administrative purposes. However, the demographic or social characteristic of interest may be unrelated to the etiology of the illness and the limitations imposed by the selective recall of illnesses, selective attrition from a target population and selective entry into a health care system further restrict the value of all prevalence data for suggesting useful preventive measures. Preventive programs are logically directed toward populations which are at high risk of ill-health. Such populations are identifiable by documenting the differential occurrence of new events of illness during some time period, i.e., incidence. Among college students, effective intervention as a preventive measure may be directed most effectively toward a population showing an increased incidence of ill-health during their first year of college. Preventive programs would be aimed at altering factors found causally associated with an increased incidence. Since the mechanisms for continuous monitoring of students’ physical and mental health as well as their social and intellectual behavior already exist in most academic environments, evaluation of preventive programs is not difficult to conceptualize. Thus college campuses appear to be natural laboratories in which to develop incidence rates and identify potentially causal factors. Based on such data preventive programs may be developed and evaluated. BACKGROUND

Medical compliance and the clinician-patient relationship: A review

Abstract A 4-category classification of research on elements of provider-patient interaction that appear related to compliance behavior is presented. The first category describes research on pedagogical techniques employed by practitioners to inform patients in detail of the patient behaviors prescribed to deal with the medical problem. This category contains studies of both correlational and experimental design that support the hypothesis that greater provider explicitness regarding needed patient behaviors is associated with better patient follow-through. The second category of research deals with studies that indicate an association between extensive clinician-patient sharing of expectations about appropriate behaviors in the dyad and good patient compliance. In this category, research has not yet proceeded beyond correlational and descriptive research designs to experimental design. The third category contains studies that reveal links between the patients assumption of responsibility for his own therapy and compliance. In this division the supporting research is both correlational and experimental. The final category contains research linking positive and supportive tone of the clinician-patient interaction with good patient adherence. Research design in this category has not yet reached the experimental level of development. The concepts and results of research in each category are quite promising. Randomize trials of methods of intervention derived from each category seem called for, though favorable results in different settings, with different combinations of treatments are by no means yet assured.

Vocational adjustment after first myocardial infarction; comparative assessment of several variables suggested in the literature.

Abstract During the past 20 years, many factors have been identified as determinants of returning to work after myocardial infarction. The literature is reviewed and a variety of supposed predictors are tested simultaneously on 58 first heart attack patients. The patients perception of his health status, social class, and sense of control over his fate predict return to work, while only amount of weekly work involvement before the attack and the perceived pressures from significant others predict amount of weekly work involvement 6 months after the attack. The findings are discussed in relation to strategies for improving post-attack vocational adjustment.

Factors influencing self-assessment of health.

Abstract Perception of ones own health status has proven a useful proxy measure for clinically-measured health status. Perceived health has also shown considerable promise as a predictor of several types of behavioral and physical outcomes after illness. The present study replicates the work of others in finding several correlates of this potentially important variable. Two conceptual models derived from the literature on recent life experience and health are presented as being possibly useful for situating perceived health in a framework of causal relationships.

Pet Ownership and Attachment in Relation to the Health of U.S. Adults, 21 to 64 Years of Age

AbstractPet ownership and attachment to a pet have been reported to have a salutary influence on health in selected populations. General population surveys of the beneficial effects of pet ownership have not been conducted. The purpose of this national survey was to examine the relationship of pet ownership and attachment to self-reported illness behavior and emotional distress in three stages of life: early adulthood (21 to 34 years of age), early middle age (35 to 44 years of age), and late middle age (45 to 64 years of age). Data were obtained from a probability sample of U.S. households with at least one resident aged 21 to 64 years of age selected by random-digit dialing using a two-stage cluster design stratified by U.S. census regions. The response rate was 65.7%, yielding a sample of 1,300 household respondents. Emotional distress was measured using the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Illness behavior was assessed by the number of physician visits, prescription m...

Social involvement and activeness as predictors of morale six months after first myocardial infarction.

Abstract A similarity between the experience of aging and first heart attack has been suggested in the literature. A theory from social gerontology relating social involvement and morale is tentatively used to predict the morale of 62 first myocardial infarction patients. Although an association between social involvement and morale is found, it appears to be explained by the patients perception of his health. The finding is discussed in a way which calls for a modification of social gerontologys theory of morale.

Quality of Attachment to Companion Animals among U.S. Adults 21 to 64 Years of Age

AbstractPrevious reports of scales and indices used in studying attachment to companion animals have not included representative samples of the United States population or have failed to show good psychometric properties. This report includes psychometric analyses of a companionanimal attachment scale used among a national probability sample of United States adults aged 21 to 64 years. Internal structures of the scale were shown to be good with all eight items loading strongly on one factor. Cronbachs alpha was 0.75 with all eight items included. As expected, those individuals who had sole responsibility for the care of the companion animal had stronger attachment scores, as did individuals who had never been married. Type of pet was not significantly associated with attachment scores, which indicates that this scale may be useful for all companion animals, not solely for dogs and cats. However, further work including a larger sample of bird and fish owners needs to be done before the value of this attac...

Attachment to Companion Animals among Older Pet Owners

AbstractPsychometric properties are examined in a pet-attachment index used in a national probability survey of households including at least one resident aged 65 or older. Cronbachs alpha for the overall scale was 0.58, indicating low but acceptable internal reliability. Internal structure was evaluated using principal-components analysis. Two factors were identified. Responses to individual questions in the index were associated with a number of respondent characteristics, including type of pet owned and gender and identity of primary caregiver. The results support the need for further work to develop a reliable and valid pet-attachment index for use in studies of the potential beneficial effects of owning companion animals.