Human Animal Interaction
Measuring the impact of pets on human wellbeing: a shift in approach to improve understanding of human-animal relationships
Waltham Petcare Science Institute Human-Animal Interaction Lead, Vanessa Ashall shares her perspective on the importance of the Pets and Wellbeing Study (PAWS) program multidisciplinary approach to studying human-animal interactions (HAI). Through reflecting on her own experiences of living and working with animals, she highlights the importance of both understanding and measuring the impacts of pet cats and dogs on human mental health and wellbeing.
Pets, people and the PAWS program
Like many others who are interested in HAI science, I have lived with pets for my whole life. I have also been fortunate enough to have worked with animals for 30 years, since beginning my training in veterinary medicine. I am proud to be able to share how my journey as a scientist has shaped my leadership of the PAWS program at Waltham Petcare Science Institute. I describe our commitment to expanding our research focus beyond ‘measuring’ the impact of pets on human wellbeing, towards developing a deeper understanding of human-animal relationships and the ways they can affect human and animal wellbeing.
From the veterinary clinic to the social sciences
As a veterinarian who is trained in medicine and surgery, I have always found the biological similarities and connections between human and animal health fascinating, from the way our bodies work to the diseases we encounter. But promoting health and wellbeing in the veterinary clinic is not only scientific; veterinarians often experience emotional encounters with clients and pets. We learn how to effectively manage people and their pets through listening to their concerns and observing body language. This led me to think about the ways that relationships between people and pets affect them both. I became so fascinated by the depth of feeling people have for their pets and how this impacts their lives, that I retrained as a social scientist. I found that the significance of our relationships with other people for our health and wellbeing are very well studied, but the health significance of our relationships with pets has not been as deeply explored.
Multidisciplinary understanding of human animal interactions
Waltham Petcare Science Institute has been a leading contributor to the research field of HAI for decades, and undertaking robust, scientific studies remains core to our commitment.
Through the PAWS program, a new dimension to this is bringing greater understanding to the way that human-animal relationships work, and the role pets can play in people’s lives. Embracing a social science approach alongside more established HAI research methods will allow us to increase understanding of why, when, how and how much cats and dogs impact human mental health and wellbeing through generating varied, robust and credible data.
How personal stories shape science
The PAWS program is generating great excitement because it promises to translate what many pet owners instinctively know and feel into robust research outputs. As such, the stories people tell me and my own experiences of living and working with animals are the foundations of our work. Whilst every human-animal relationship is different, there is recognition of the important impact pets can have. Through sharing the details of our lives together and working to both understand and demonstrate the impacts pets have on humans, we can make progress towards a happier healthier world for both pets and people.
