Using pets to support healthy ageing – pilot study
Can pets cure loneliness? Research driven by the National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA) will investigate whether bonding with animals can reduce loneliness and social isolation in at-risk groups.
Can pets cure loneliness? Research driven by the National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA), a federally funded partnership between Monash University and Peninsula Health, will investigate whether bonding with animals can reduce loneliness and social isolation in at-risk groups.
Loneliness and isolation stem from a reduced sense of belonging and lack of social connections, and risk factors increase as we age. Members of excluded groups or minorities, such as international students or refugees and recent migrants, are also at higher risk due to a lack of social interactions or networks.
The new study aims to explore the way pets and the human-animal bond may reduce this sense of loneliness and social isolation in these groups.
Monash University researcher Dr Em Bould (they/them) has been building evidence of the impact of human-animal interactions for six years, and will use new NCHA funding to expand this important work to older people and those from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Dr Bould will conduct a pilot study on the benefits of regular interaction with others centred around a shared interest in animals and it is just one of 13 NCHA Living Labs projects that have secured combined funding of $4.77 million.
Read the full story on Monash News.
Click here to read more on the NCHA Living Labs Round 3 projects - driving research into healthy ageing.