Peoples perception of pet illness – is it still disenfranchised?

Kelly, Jennifer (2023) Peoples perception of pet illness – is it still disenfranchised? Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Aims: the aim of this study was to investigate whether people's reactions to another person’s pet illness is viewed as appropriate by presenting two groups of participants with two vignettes, one where the pet owner is annoyed at their pet being unwell and one where they are upset at their pet being unwell. By investigating the responses of participants via an appropriateness scale we can then assess to see if pet illness and loss is still socially acceptable grief or if it is still disenfranchised grief.

Method: an online questionnaire was distributed to participants (n=191). Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, two vignettes, with all participants seeing one of the two vignettes, modified Witnessing of Disenfranchised Grief (WDG) questionnaire and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ).

Results: the results of this study indicated that pet grief is not a form of disenfranchised grief and that being upset is an appropriate response to pet grief. With regard to gender, males and females do not significantly differ on empathy levels. This result indicates that those with higher levers of empathy towards their own pet have higher levels of negative affect in relation to a pet owners’ reaction to their own pet being unwell.

Item Type:	Thesis (Undergraduate)
Supervisors:	Name Email Cullen, Brendan UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology Q Science > QL Zoology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Emotions
Divisions:	School of Business > BA (Honours) in Psychology
Depositing User:	Tamara Malone
Date Deposited:	02 Jan 2024 17:10
Last Modified:	02 Jan 2024 17:10
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/6897

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