Unbelievable facts
According to researchers, having pets next to women suffering from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), such as a cat or dog, helps patients cope with chronic ones diseases and stay relatively healthy. The fact that animals have such a therapeutic healing effect on women was found out by American specialists from Case Western Reserve University (Case Western Reserve University) University), Cleveland, Ohio. “We believe this discovery about pets helps women overcome more than one chronic illness,” said Allison R. Webel, one of the study's authors.
Webel's task was to find answers to the question of how women manage to cope with HIV infection, continue to work and live relatively healthy lives. It is clear that this does not happen without the support of drugs and advice from treating doctors. Webel identified 12 key groups of 48 women, conducting research and trying to find out how they manage to stay healthy despite HIV infection. The average age of women was 42; 90 per cent of them had children and more than half were single. In conducting their research, Webel and her colleagues divided groups into the following categories: moms, grandmothers, believers, lawyers, pet owners, and so on. In addition, a separate group was identified, which included women who did not accept their moral diagnosis and therefore constantly suffer from it.
In principle, all groups can be called groups with a positive context, except for the group, of course, which includes women who have surrendered and are most seriously affected by HIV infection. “A lot of information has been accumulated about the positive impact of work and family on how women cope with illnesses; however, very little research has been done about how the social role of the disease affects the disease women,” Webel concludes. But the main surprise, according to the researcher, was that pet owners were the best at maintaining the health of their bodies. “Pets, primarily dogs, gave women the greatest sense of joy and support,” Webel said. “Dogs feel when you're in poor health and depressed mood. They usually follow sick people as if they want to protect them.” At the same time, Webel also notes the high role of social status, which is also better for overcoming painful conditions. Indeed, it is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick. But you can get a dog or cat anyway!