Featured Partner
Principal Investigators
Rationale
Countless cancer survivors share their lives with pets and enjoy the benefits of these attachments. Cancer and its treatment, however, frequently produce side-effects that impede survivors’ abilities to meet their animals’ physical and psychosocial needs. While studies of cancer survivors suggest pets foster affection and feelings of connection, research has failed to adequately address the challenges many cancer survivors face in caring for their animals.
The long-term goal is to develop assessment and intervention strategies to support cancer survivors in the care of their pets throughout their entire survivorship trajectory, thus reducing the distress associated with seeking and obtaining resources, practical support, and secondary caregivers.
Objective
This study is designed to explore the benefits, stressors, and social support structures cancer survivors encounter in caring for their pets for the purpose of developing assessment and intervention strategies to support survivors in the care of their pets throughout their entire survivorship trajectory.
Hypothesis
Researchers hypothesize that cancer patients and survivors will report receiving significant support from their pets yet also feel stress and guilt related to the impact of their cancer on their pets – and that these negative pet-related feelings will have a deleterious impact on their well-being. They also expect to find that most survivors will not feel their relationship with their pet is supported by their veterinary or medical professional teams nor feel that they have adequate community resources or a support system to best meet their pet’s needs.
Design
Through the administration of an online mixed methods survey, researchers plan to identify if and how pets serve as emotional buffers and/or stressors for cancer survivors and how support systems can promote their ability to provide for their pets’ physical and emotional well-being.
The researchers will follow this survey with four facilitated focus groups to explore how survivors create informal and formal social support systems and the gaps they perceive in pet-related services. An analysis of survey and focus group data will reveal the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities associated with community pet resources.
Lastly, researchers will develop a virtual resource for cancer survivors that will include tools for helping them build their pet support system and communication guides to enhance their ability to communicate their needs with their medical and veterinary providers.
Expected Results
Researchers have three specific aims:
1) Identify the role pets serve as sources of support for cancer survivors through their illness and survivorship,
2) Identify cancer survivors’ stressors related to their pets including their concerns about the negative impact of their illness on their animals, and their needs related to their animals’ present-day and future care, and
3) Identify pet-related resources that support cancer survivors’ attachment to their pets and their ability to provide for their pets’ well-being.
