Why are some people in the UK reluctant to seek support for their pets?

Drawing upon data from a study examining experiences of accessing support for pets from the UK animal welfare charity Blue Cross, this paper illuminates reasons why people might not seek support when they need it. This applies to those who are struggling financially and are eligible for, but do not take, free/reduced cost veterinary care, or are having other problems (e.g. the animal's disruptive behaviour or ill health, struggling to care for the pet due to changing circumstances or health problems, or coping with pet loss). Twenty Blue Cross service users (15 female, five male, age 29-67) took part in individual online interviews using a semi-guided narrative approach, where they were encouraged to share their experiences of reaching out. They were also asked to reflect upon why others may not do the same, and if they had any recommendations for organisations to help them reach these people. Findings echo other studies that highlight a fear of being judged, disclosure and stigma. Guilt, shame, lack of awareness, financial concerns, and wanting to manage independently, all play important roles. These factors have implications for the way support services are advertised and delivered to ensure animals receive the care needed. We describe these reflections and recommendations and identify three broader ideological narratives underpinning participants' stories: 'giving back'; 'equity', and 'sacrifice'. These reveal how wider societal attitudes and values shape identities and behaviours. It is vital that support on offer is reframed to explicitly counteract these influences to ensure optimal animal and human welfare.

Review: Can digital mental health interventions bridge the 'digital divide' for socioeconomically and digitally marginalised youth? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) have the potential to improve the efficiency, accessibility and effectiveness of mental health services for young people, with the potential to reach socioeconomically and digitally marginalised young people with mental health needs who would otherwise not seek help in person. This review aims to investigate the characteristics, acceptability and efficacy of DMHIs specifically developed for socioeconomically and digitally marginalised youth. METHOD: Key databases were searched widely and systematically (EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, OpenGrey). Final inclusion in this review required studies to evaluate DMHIs specifically targeting socioeconomically and digitally marginalised children and young people through a broad range of research designs. RESULTS: Ten studies, describing seven DHMIs, were included in this review. Studies varied in terms of methodology, population, intervention, outcome measures, technologies used and methodological quality. Qualitative and quantitative results are synthesised across three key phenomena of interest: effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility. Findings suggest that there is moderate but limited evidence supporting DMHIs for improving mental health outcomes among these populations. CONCLUSIONS: While there is moderate evidence suggesting that digitally delivered interventions can be effective in improving mental health outcomes among socioeconomically and digitally marginalised youth, more high-quality research is needed in order to determine whether DMHIs can fully bridge the so-called 'digital divide'.

Effectiveness of a mindful nature walking intervention on sleep quality and mood in university students during Covid-19: A randomised control study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this project was to conduct a randomised control study to examine whether outdoor mindful walking in nature can effectively improve university students' sleep quality, mood, and mindfulness during the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.K. METHODS: Participants were measured at T0 (pre-study baseline), T1 (pre-intervention), T2 (post-intervention), and T3 (follow-up). A total of 104 participants (female = 94) who were experiencing sleep difficulties were randomly allocated to either an experimental (i.e., nature) or control (i.e., urban) walking environment. Participants in each walking condition independently undertook a daily 35-minute walk for a week (7 days). Subjective sleep quality, total mood disturbance, mindfulness, and degree of nature connectedness, and participants' perspectives on the intervention, were collected. RESULTS: Findings suggest that both groups resulted in significant improvements in participants' trait mindfulness, sleep quality and mood after the intervention. However, mindful walking in nature did not bring additional mental health benefits to participants relative to those who walked an urban environment. Participants provided their perspectives about the intervention, which will assist with future intervention development. CONCLUSIONS: Findings contribute to the evidence-base on the effectiveness of outdoor mindful walking interventions for enhancing mental health. These findings contribute new knowledge on how mindful walking outdoors reduces university students' mood disturbances and improves sleep quality and mindfulness level.

A Systematic Review of Horticultural Therapy's Influence on Chinese Older Adults' Psychosocial Wellbeing.

Aim: This systematic review aims to evaluate changes in Chinese older adults' psychosocial wellbeing after receiving horticultural therapy, and examine existing evidence regarding horticultural therapy's effectiveness in a Chinese setting. Method: Intervention studies measuring relevant outcomes amongst older adults and conducted in China were identified from ASSIA, CIHAHL Plus, PsycINFO, EMBASE, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science Core Collection and CNKI. Cochrane risk of bias assessment tools were used to appraise study quality. Result: 16 studies were selected, among which four were published in English and 12 in Chinese. Findings suggested that after receiving horticultural therapy, older adults' psychosocial wellbeing is generally improved, but causal relationships between improvements and horticulture therapy were less clear. Conclusion: Features of horticultural therapy conducted in China is with its cultural and social uniqueness. Existing evidence supports the post-intervention benefits on completion of horticultural therapies, but the limitations in programme design, sample representativeness and methodological robustness limited the quality of the evidence.

Veterinarians' experiences of treating cases of animal abuse: An online questionnaire study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine veterinarians' experiences of treating cases of nonaccidental injury and other forms of animal abuse and to assess their support needs and barriers to reporting cases. METHODS: An online questionnaire was completed by 215 veterinarians. The survey included items on demographics and veterinary experience, experience of nonaccidental injuries during the last 12 months, case studies, perceptions of the roles of veterinarians in identifying and reporting cases, and barriers to reporting. RESULTS: Fifty-three percent reported treating cases and 9% reported suspected cases of abuse in the last 12 months. Experience of abuse in the last 12 months did not vary in terms of veterinarians' age, sex or number of years in practice. The most commonly affected animals were dogs, cats and rabbits, and the most common forms of abuse were neglect and physical abuse. Case studies focused on physical abuse cases, but neglect cases more often resulted in death. Veterinarians showed high concern about animal abuse but varied in their confidence to intervene and perceived barriers to reporting. CONCLUSION: Experience of animal abuse is common, and veterinarians feel a strong moral duty to act, but can lack confidence in intervening. Abuse cases affect stress levels and compassion fatigue; therefore, support and training are needed.

Measurement invariance of the Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) across gender and ethnic groups of Asian, Caucasian, Black, and Hispanic.

BACKGROUND: Major Depressive Disorder is a severe and highly disabling mental illness. Almost all self-reported questionnaires have overlooked the interpersonal symptoms of depression which are important across gender and culture. The Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) developed by Cheung and Power (2012) entails comprehensive emotional, cognitive, somatic, and interpersonal subscales. It addresses the criticism that existing self-report depression scales might not cover sufficient phenomenological heterogeneity of depression. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the MDAS across gender and four major ethnic groups of Caucasian, Black, Asian and Hispanic, including reliability and concurrent validity against the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) and Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). It also aimed to establish a stable factor structure across gender and ethnic groups and test the measurement invariance to enhance its potential for clinical use. METHODS: A community sample of 3499 participants from four ethnic groups were recruited via online crowdsourcing sites of Qualtrics and Amazon M Turk. Each individual completed a demographic questionnaire, the MDAS, CESD and PHQ-9. RESULTS: There was good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.90) and concurrent reliability across gender and ethnic groups. Strict measurement invariance was established for MDAS over a four-factor factor structure corresponding to the four subscales. CONCLUSIONS: The MDAS showed good psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a four-factor structure, suggesting its potential to be used in clinical settings across gender and ethnic groups. LIMITATIONS: Participants all answered the questionnaires in English, which could hinder cultural variations in their expression of symptoms.

A Qualitative Study of Children's Accounts of Cruelty to Animals: Uncovering the Roles of Trauma, Exposure to Violence, and Attachment.

Childhood animal cruelty (CAC) is a risk for later interpersonal violence and a red flag for other forms of violence in the household, yet very few studies have spoken to children directly about their cruelty to animals. Animal Guardians (AG) is a humane education program run by the Scottish SPCA for children of age 5 to 12 years who have been cruel to animals or deemed at-risk. This research investigated how children referred to AG spoke about their experiences of animal cruelty and factors surrounding it. Research consent was obtained for 10 children (average age = 8.8 years, n = 9 males), referred concerning cruel/at-risk behavior toward their pets. The interview schedule combined techniques such as crafts, vignettes, open questions, and standardized measures. Interviews were qualitatively analyzed using content analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Content analysis suggested that referred children (a) tended to have small attachment networks which often included pets, (b) tended to interpret ambiguous situations predominately negatively, (c) tended to like animals and see them as sentient, and (d) struggled admitting to cruelty. Three main superordinate themes emerged from the IPA: (a) Bonding to animals, (b) Exposure to/normalization of violence, and (c) Signs of emotional issues/trauma. Children who were referred for animal cruelty toward their pets were from vulnerable backgrounds, often had complex backdrops to their at-risk or cruel behavior, and sometimes had trouble regulating their emotions and behaviors. Programs hoping to address CAC should be aware of these complex emotional, psychological, and behavioral factors, tailoring interventions accordingly.

Validation of Chinese Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) in Inner Mongolia pregnant women and risk factors of antenatal depression in Inner Mongolia in the era of one-child policy.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy involves physiological changes in reproductive and endocrine systems, and social role changes that can increase the risk of mental health problems. In China, greater emphasis has been given to postpartum depression and its negative impact on infant development. This study examined depression in pregnant women in Inner Mongolia, who are under the influence of cultural values of collectivism and social factors specific to China. Chinese society adheres firmly to traditional values, while market reform, birth-control policy, together with high parental investment in childcare and rearing construct a unique and sometimes unfavorable environment for Chinese women that may influence their depression expression. THE AIMS OF THIS STUDY ARE TWOFOLD: First, it validated the Chinese Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS), a holistic self-report questionnaire measuring depression severity in four domains of depression-emotional, somatic, cognitive and interpersonal in pregnant women in Inner Mongolia; second, it examined the influences of demographic characteristics (including age, education and employment), pregnancy characteristics (week of gestation, first pregnancy), self-esteem, social support, social activity, work stress, and work-family balance on depression. METHODS: A total of 234 pregnant women, mostly in their third trimester, were recruited in an antenatal hospital in Inner Mongolia and self-reported questionnaires were completed. RESULTS: Using Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), MDAS gave rise to a best-fit four-factor model corresponding to each subscale when it was first developed. MDAS also reported high Cronbach's alpha (0.96) and good convergent validity. Using hierarchical multiple linear regressions with significant demographic variables controlled for, self-esteem, work-family conflict, and social support were found to be significant predictors for depression. CONCLUSIONS: MDAS is a valid scale to be used with Chinese pregnant women, especially in more collectivistic geographical areas. Risk factors specific to the Chinese context add insights to the experience of antenatal depression in China and contribute to understanding depression in from a global mental health perspective.

Animal-assisted therapy for schizophrenia and related disorders: A systematic review.

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is increasingly researched as a potential treatment for physical and mental illness, including schizophrenia. The aim of the current paper is to systematically review randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the effectiveness of AAT for schizophrenia and related disorders. We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, CAB Abstracts, and Web of Science for RCTs of AAT for schizophrenia and related disorders. Primary outcomes were mental state and behaviour, clinical global response, and quality of life and wellbeing. Studies were eligible if they were RCTs that had compared AAT, or other animal-assisted intervention, to any control group using any participants with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia (or related disorder), regardless of age, gender, setting, or severity and duration of illness. Seven studies were identified for the review. Meta-analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity of studies, including marked differences in outcome measures and interventions. Five out of seven studies included symptoms as an outcome measure, with one reporting improvements in negative symptoms and one study reporting improvements in positive and emotional symptoms. The remaining studies reported no significant effects of AAT. Three studies included quality of life as an outcome measure but did not find any significant effects. Two studies did, however, report improvements in various measures of self-view. The use of AAT for schizophrenia remains inconclusive and there is currently not enough evidence to draw any firm conclusions due to heterogeneity of studies, risk of bias, and small samples. Rigorous, large-scale RCTs are needed to assess the true impact of AAT on schizophrenia.

The Development and Evaluation of 'Farm Animal Welfare': An Educational Computer Game for Children.

Many children growing up in urban areas of Western countries have limited contact with and knowledge of farm animals and food production systems. Education can play an important role in children's understanding of farm animal welfare issues, however, most education provided focuses on pets. There is a need to develop new farm animal welfare interventions for young children. This study examines the process of designing, developing, and evaluating the effectiveness of a new theoretically-driven digital game to teach children, aged 6⁻13 years, about farm animal welfare. 'Farm Animal Welfare' aimed to promote children's knowledge about animal welfare, promote beliefs about animal sentience, and promote positive attitudes and compassion. A quasi-experimental design was carried out, using self-report questionnaires that children (n = 133, test = 69, control = 64) completed in the classroom. Test and control groups were from different schools and the control group did not engage in the intervention. Findings indicate a positive impact on beliefs about animal minds, knowledge about animal welfare needs, and knowledge about welfare in different farming systems, but there was no change in compassion or attitudes about cruelty. This study presents the first evaluation of a digital animal welfare education intervention for children, demonstrating the benefits of incorporating 'serious games' into farm animal welfare education. The findings will inform future practice around farm animal welfare education interventions for primary school children.

Children's concepts of childhood and adolescent depression.

BACKGROUND: Research on adolescent Mental Health Literacy (MHL) is rapidly increasing; however, equivalent research in children is lacking. Exploring children's mental health conceptualisations reveals how their knowledge develops and provides the evidence base for the development of mental health education for younger age groups. METHODS: A total of 105 children aged 8-9 and 11-12 years were interviewed using a vignette methodology structured according to the model of illness representations, exploring: recognition, causes, consequences, timeline and curability of depression. Age, gender and experience differences were explored. RESULTS: Children were able to identify the existence of a psychological difficulty in a depressed peer; however, they struggled to categorise depression as a mental illness or to label depression. Children referred to a variety of causal factors, primarily environmental and interpersonal rather than internal biological causes. Children considered depression to be curable within a short period of 1-2 months and anticipated negative outcomes if left untreated. Older children's concepts were more sophisticated than younger children's. Gender and experience were not associated with depression concepts in this age range. CONCLUSIONS: Age trends in children's mental health concepts are evident, in accordance with previous studies. Children from the age of 8-9 years demonstrate detailed concepts of depression. However, mental health educational interventions are needed to target specific gaps and misconceptions in children's understanding.

The Impact of a Horse Riding Intervention on the Social Functioning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This paper reports a case-control study of a horse riding intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A sample of 26 children, aged 6 to 9 years, were assigned to either the intervention (n = 12) or control group conditions (n = 14). Pre- and post-tests were carried out using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, Second Edition (CARS2) and the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist-Community Edition (ABC-C). An observational measure of compliance and behaviour during the horse riding sessions was completed for the intervention group. There was a significant reduction in the severity of ASD symptoms and hyperactivity from pre- to post-test for the intervention group only. These results indicate that the intervention improves some aspects of social functioning for children with ASD.

Childhood Attachment to Pets: Associations between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour.

Attachment to pets has an important role in children's social, emotional, and cognitive development, mental health, well-being, and quality of life. This study examined associations between childhood attachment to pets and caring and friendship behaviour, compassion, and attitudes towards animals. This study also examined socio-demographic differences, particularly pet ownership and pet type. A self-report survey of over one thousand 7 to 12 year-olds in Scotland, UK, revealed that the majority of children are strongly attached to their pets, but attachment scores differ depending on pet type and child gender. Analysis revealed that attachment to pets is facilitated by compassion and caring and pet-directed friendship behaviours and that attachment to pets significantly predicts positive attitudes towards animals. The findings have implications for the promotion of prosocial and humane behaviour. Encouraging children to participate in pet care behaviour may promote attachment between children and their pet, which in turn may have a range of positive outcomes for both children (such as reduced aggression, better well-being, and quality of life) and pets (such as humane treatment). This study enhances our understanding of childhood pet attachment and has implications for humane education and promoting secure emotional attachments in childhood.

Assessing Effectiveness of a Nonhuman Animal Welfare Education Program for Primary School Children.

Nonhuman animal welfare education aims to promote positive relationships between children and animals and thus improve animal welfare, yet few scientific evaluations of these programs exist. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an education program developed by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) that included 4 interventions focusing on pets (companion animals), wild animals, farm animals, and general animal rescues. Knowledge, attachment to pets, and attitudes and beliefs about animal minds were assessed at pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest using a questionnaire administered to 1,217 Scottish children aged 7 to 13 years old. Results showed a significant positive impact of the program on knowledge about animals and the Scottish SPCA for all interventions. The pet and farming interventions significantly impacted children's beliefs about animal minds. There were trends toward improvements in a range of other measures. This study highlights the importance of teaching animal welfare education to children for early prevention of animal cruelty, discusses the need to base this education on theory and research to find effective change, and demonstrates how evidence-based practice can inform future education programs.

Implicit learning and reading: insights from typical children and children with developmental dyslexia using the artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm.

We examined implicit learning in school-aged children with and without developmental dyslexia based on the proposal that implicit learning plays a significant role in mastering fluent reading. We ran two experiments with 16 typically developing children (9 to 11-years-old) and 16 age-matched children with developmental dyslexia using the artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm. In Experiment 1 (non-transfer task), children were trained on stimuli that followed patterns (rules) unknown to them. Subsequently, they were asked to decide from a novel set which stimuli follow the same rules (grammaticality judgments). In Experiment 2 (transfer task), training and testing stimuli differed in their superficial characteristics but followed the same rules. Again, children were asked to make grammaticality judgments. Our findings expand upon previous research by showing that children with developmental dyslexia show difficulties in implicit learning that are most likely specific to higher-order rule-like learning. These findings are discussed in relation to current theories of developmental dyslexia and of implicit learning.

Children and adolescents' understandings of family resemblance: a study of naïve inheritance concepts.

This paper aims to provide developmental data on two connected naïve inheritance concepts and to explore the coherence of children's naïve biology knowledge. Two tasks examined children and adolescents' (4, 7, 10, and 14 years) conceptions of phenotypic resemblance across kin (in physical characteristics, disabilities, and personality traits). The first task required participants to predict and explain feature outcomes in both an offspring and a sibling, in a modified version of the phenotypic similarity task. In the second task, participants offered explanations for instances of parent-offspring dissimilarity and grandparent-offspring resemblance (phenotypic difference task). The inclusion of two tasks and a broad age range revealed significant age trends between 4 and 10 years in naïve inheritance concepts. However, there was little consistency in children's inheritance explanations within or across tasks. The findings are discussed with reference to debates concerning the development and structure of naïve biology concepts.

Concepts of kinship relations and inheritance in childhood and adolescence.

This paper examines the development and consistency of children's (4, 7, 10, and 14 years) naïve concepts of inheritance using three tasks. A modified adoption task asked participants to distinguish between biological and social parentage in their predictions and explanations of the origins of different feature types (physical characteristics, disabilities, and personality traits). The causal mechanisms task asked participants to rate their preference for various mechanisms of inheritance for physical features. The family relatedness task required participants to provide judgements on the relatedness of family members and explain their understanding of kinship terms. Developmental trends were revealed in all three tasks. There was a trend towards increased consistency in judgements across tasks with age, but low correlations between explanations given in different task contexts. Findings are discussed with reference to the onset and variability of inheritance concepts and the implications for education and future research.

Do children with developmental dyslexia have impairments in implicit learning?

We explored implicit learning in a group of typically developing and developmental dyslexic primary school children (9-12 y) using a modified artificial grammar learning task. Performance was calculated using two measures of performance: a perfect free recall (PFR) score and a grammaticality judgment score. Both groups of children required the same amount of exposure to memorize the items (i.e. PFR performance) (t((30))=1.620, p>0.05; p-value reported two-tailed). However, repeated measures ANOVA (Participant type x Grammaticality x Chunk strength) revealed a Participant type effect for grammaticality judgment scores (F((1,30))=4.521, p<0.05; p-value reported two-tailed). Typically developing children showed above chance performance in terms of both grammaticality and chunk strength of the stimuli. Children with developmental dyslexia on the other hand, failed to show implicit learning irrespective of the substring characteristics (i.e. grammaticality or chunk strength). We propose that children with developmental dyslexia may be impaired in their implicit rule abstraction mechanism, which can partially explain their persistent reading problems.

Artificial grammar learning in primary school children with and without developmental dyslexia.

This paper explores implicit learning in typically developing and primary school children (9-12 years old) with developmental dyslexia using an artificial grammar learning (AGL) task. Two experiments were conducted, which differed in time of presentation and nature of the instructional set (experiment 1--implicit instructions vs experiment 2--explicit instructions). Repeated measures analysis of variance (group x grammaticality x chunk strength) showed a group effect only in experiment 1 (implicit instructions), with only the typically developing children showing evidence of AGL. There was a grammaticality effect (adherence to the rules) for both groups in the two experimental situations. We suggest that the typically developing children exhibited intact implicit learning as manifested in AGL performance, whereas children with developmental dyslexia failed to provide such evidence due to possible mediating cognitive developmental factors.

What do children learn about biology from factual information? A comparison of interventions to improve understanding of contagious illnesses.

BACKGROUND: Children have been shown to hold misconceptions about illness, and previous work has indicated that their knowledge can be improved through the use of interventions. AIMS: This study aims to evaluate interventions based on the provision of factual information for improving understanding of contagious illness. SAMPLE: The participants were 96 children from two age groups: 7 and 11 years. METHODS: During the pre-test, the children were asked about three contagious illnesses and one novel illness. There were three intervention conditions, differing in the level of factual information provided: explanations provided, no explanations provided and scientific factual style. The interventions were focused on contagious illnesses (cold, chickenpox). A post-test was conducted 6 weeks later. RESULTS: Results from the pre-test show that the older children have more sophisticated understanding of illness than the younger children. Mean pre- to post-test change was calculated and analyses revealed that there is greater pre- to post-test change in the explanation and scientific fact conditions when compared with that in the no-explanation condition. The improvements in knowledge generalized to other contagious illnesses, and the older children showed more improvements than the younger children. CONCLUSIONS: These findings add to the literature on children's understanding of contagious illnesses and contribute towards discussions on the best approach to health education.