An online survey in China found that nurses who own pets have, on average, somewhat higher scores on self-compassion and self-kindness but somewhat lower scores on common humanity, compared to nurses who do not own pets. Nurses who owned pets also had a very slightly higher average mindfulness score. The study was published in PeerJ.
Nurses are healthcare professionals who play a vital role in providing direct patient care, promoting health, and assisting in the coordination of medical services. Nursing career requires a combination of clinical expertise, compassion, and strong communication skills. It is highly stressful. A recent study in China indicated that over 68% of nurses report high levels of occupational stress.
High stress levels among nurses can lead to burnout, depression, anxiety, and compassion fatigue. This can, in turn, reduce their compassionate practice, lead to poor patient outcomes, and increase the risk that the nurse will abandon the nursing career. Researchers have proposed a wide variety of strategies to manage nurses’ stress. Among these, self-care and social support are the most significant. Self-compassion, the practice of treating oneself with kindness and understanding during times of struggle or failure, is an important form of self-care.
Studies have also indicated that people are better able to deal with stress when they have pets as social support. Attachment to pets has been shown to alleviate job insecurity and stress. With this in mind, study authors Hu Jiang and his colleagues set out to investigate the current status of pet ownership among Chinese nurses and to explore the relationship between pet ownership and self-compassion.
Study participants were 1,309 nurses from China. Their age ranged between 18 and 59 years. The average age was 32 years. 87% of the nurses were female. 73% were married. 59% worked between 6-15 years. 55% had a monthly income between 3,001 and 6,000 yuan ($412-$823). Researchers recruited them via posters, links and QR codes for the web survey distributed via WeChat. The online survey was conducted via the survey platform Wenjuanxing.
Participants completed an assessment of various aspects of self-compassion (the Self-Compassion Scale) and a general information questionnaire asking about participants’ demographic data, ownership of pets, and types of pets owned.
Results showed that 16.9% of nurses owned pets. Dogs and cats were the most common types of pets, with 56% of participants owning dogs and 53% owning cats (some participants owned multiple pets). 76% of participants reported having their animal for longer than a year.
Comparisons showed that nurses who owned pets had somewhat higher average scores on the overall self-compassion and self-kindness, and a tiny bit higher average score on mindfulness compared to nurses who did not own pets. However, nurses who did not own pets had somewhat higher average score on common humanity. All the differences between the two groups were very low. This was particularly the case with mindfulness.
Self-kindness is the ability to be understanding and supportive toward oneself in times of difficulty, rather than being overly self-critical or harsh. Common humanity Involves recognizing that personal struggles and challenges are part of the shared human experience, fostering a sense of connection rather than isolation. Mindfulness involves maintaining a balanced awareness of one’s emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them, encouraging a non-judgmental and present-focused approach to one’s experiences.
“We found that 16.9% of nurses owned at least one pet, which revealed that nurses actually own pets as part of their modern lifestyle, providing them with social support and potentially also enhancing their self-compassion,” the study authors concluded.
The study makes a contribution to the scientific understanding of the links between pet ownership and self-compassion. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. Notably, the study design does not allow any cause-and-effect inferences to be made from the results. Additionally, the study was based solely on self-reports and it is possible that methodology used to recruit participants attracted a group of nurses not very representative of the general population of nurses in China.
The study, “The influence of pet ownership on self-compassion among nurses: a cross-sectional study”, was authored by Hu Jiang, Yongxia Mei, Xiaoxuan Wang, Wenna Wang, Beilei Lin, Zhixin Zhao, and Zhenxiang Zhang.
