People, other animals and health knowledges: towards a research agenda

Becoming a matter of veterinary concern

Horses in Great Britain are living into increasingly older age and are often regarded as friends or family members by their owner. The horse is reliant on their owner to meet their needs and this paper discusses how horse owners frame an issue that becomes a matter of veterinary concern within the context of the older horse. Qualitative methods were used to explore the experiences of owners and veterinarians. Data were collected and analysed using a grounded theory approach during the period 2019-2022. Analysis identified that owners undertook an ongoing and iterative process of assessment, monitoring and decision making in relation to the animal and any changes they observed. Matters that became a veterinary concern required the owner to formulate the issue as something that fell within the knowledge domain of the veterinarian. Veterinarians had a medicalised view of older horse health and their perspectives on socially acceptable care were shaped by their understanding of species-specific needs, and whether owners were providing appropriately for those needs. The formulation of a matter of veterinary concern was itself shaped by an owner's experiential knowledge of both veterinary matters and their horse. The extent to which owners felt like they and their individual horse mattered during interactions with veterinarians affected whether they adopted veterinary advice and the nature of future veterinary employment. Findings demonstrate how matters of health, disease, and the role of professionalised forms of medical knowledge, are not static but constantly changing and interacting over time. An issue that became a matter of veterinary concern was contextual, and rooted in individual relationships. The significance of veterinarian-owner interactions in shaping future consumption of veterinary health care may be underestimated.

Companion Animal Fostering as Health Promotion: A Literature Review

There is growing interest in the health-promoting potential of human-companion animal relationships from a broad public health perspective while acknowledging barriers to ownership, particularly for older adults. Companion animal fostering is an alternative to pet ownership that aligns with the Ottawa Charter health promotion principle that caring for others in everyday settings promotes health. This narrative review of the literature on companion animal fostering draws on Te Whare Tapa Whā (the four-sided house), an indigenous model of health that is influential in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Ottawa Charter. We found that companion animal fostering can be considered health-promoting for human and non-human animals, using a broad and multidimensional understanding of health. As well as improving the long-term outcomes for homeless animals, companion animal fostering has the potential to promote the health of the individuals, families, and communities who provide foster homes. Our review highlights the importance of health promoters considering the reciprocal relationship between human and animal health. Future research should explore different aspects of human and non-human health, perspectives of different types of fosterers in different settings and communities, barriers to fostering, and methods that explore the role of caring for a wider range of companion animals in creating and sustaining wellbeing.

An Ethnographic Approach to Characterizing Potential Pathways of Zoonotic Disease Transmission from Wild Meat in Guyana

The hunting, butchery, and consumption of wild meat is an important interface for zoonotic disease transmission. Despite this, few researchers have used ethnography to understand the sociocultural factors that may increase zoonotic disease transmission from hunting, particularly in Amazonia. Here, we use ethnographic methods consisting of structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, and participant observation to address questions pertaining to wild meat consumption, pathways of zoonotic disease transmission, food security, and the cultural identity of indigenous Waiwai in the Konashen Community Owned Conservation Area, Guyana. Our data revealed that the majority of Waiwai eat wild meat two to three times/week and 60% of respondents reported butchery-related injuries. However, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, and participant observation data indicate that the Waiwai do not perceive most cuts from butchery as injuries, despite being a potential route of pathogen exposure. Additionally, participant observation revealed that hunting is integral to Waiwai identity and the Waiwai exhibit a cultural aversion to domestic meats. These findings provide valuable insights into the interplay of hunting and wild meat consumption and disease in Amazonia and demonstrate how an ethnographic approach provides the contextual data necessary for identifying potential pathways of zoonotic transmission from wild meat.

From more-than-human solidarity to multi-species biographical value: insights from a veterinary school about ethical dilemmas in One Health promotion

This article features a partnership between a veterinary school and a charity that aims to enhance the wellbeing of low-income people. Through this partnership, the charity periodically hosts veterinary clinics for clients and their pets. Even as the veterinarians and veterinary students duly examine people's pets, these pop-up clinics aim to help people and their pets. Hence our analysis revolves around the ethics of 'more-than-human solidarity'. By 'more-than-human solidarity', we mean efforts to help others that either center on or that implicate non-human beings. To delve into the ethical and sociological implications of subsidised veterinary services, and to assist with program planning, we conducted several in-depth interviews with veterinarians. Most substantively, we found that the veterinary school's outreach clinics give rise to multi-species biographical value, which is prized as a pedagogical resource for veterinary students. The veterinarians whom we interviewed felt troubled by the extent to which the pop-up clinics ultimately benefited the veterinary school, but also by the shortage of subsidised veterinary services in the vicinity. Based on these interviews and our own reflections, we invite more scholarship on cultural, economic and political influences that shape the lives of human beings and non-human animals alike.

Qualitative Research for One Health: From Methodological Principles to Impactful Applications

The One Health concept has inspired a rich vein of applied research and scholarly reflection over the past decade, yet with little influence from qualitative methodologists. With this overview, we describe the underpinning assumptions, purposes, and potential pitfalls of data collection techniques and methods of data analysis in key qualitative research methodologies. Our aim is to enhance One Health collaborations involving qualitative researchers, veterinary epidemiologists, and veterinary economists. There exist several distinct traditions of qualitative research, from which we draw selectively for illustrative purposes. Notwithstanding important distinctions, we emphasize commonalities and the potential for collaborative impact. The most important commonality is a shared focus on contextualizing human behavior and experience–culturally, economically, historically, and socially. We demonstrate that in-depth attention to context can assist veterinary economists and epidemiologists in drawing lessons from the implementation of policies and programs. In other words, qualitative researchers can assist One Health teams in distilling insights from “success stories,” but also from adverse events and unintended consequences. As a result, qualitative researchers can contribute to One Health research and policy discussions by formulating more accurate and contextually-relevant parameters for future quantitative studies. When performed well, qualitative methodologies can help veterinary economists and epidemiologists to develop impactful research questions, to create more accurate and contextually-relevant parameters for quantitative studies, and to develop policy recommendations and interventions that are attuned to the political and socio-cultural context of their implementation. In sketching out the properties and features of influential methodologies, we underscore the value of working with seasoned qualitative researchers to incorporate questions about “what,” “how,” and “why” in mixed-methods research designs.

Animals, veterinarians and the sociology of diagnosis

While sociologists of medicine have focused their efforts on understanding human health, illness, and medicine, veterinary medical practice has not yet caught their attention in any sustained way. In this critical review article, we use insights from the sociology of diagnosis literature to explore veterinary practice, and aim to demonstrate the importance of animals to sociological understandings of health, illness and disease. As in human medicine, our analysis shows the importance of diagnosis in creating and maintaining the power and authority of the veterinary professional. However, we then explore how diagnosis operates as a kind of dance, where professional authority can be challenged, particularly in light of the complex ethical responsibilities and clinical interactions that result from the triad of professional/owner/animal patient. Finally, we consider diagnosis via the precept of entanglement, and raise the intriguing possibility of interspecies health relations, whereby decision-making in human health care may be influenced by experiences in animal health care and vice-versa. In our conclusion, we argue that this analysis provides opportunities to scholars researching diagnosis in human health care, particularly around the impact of commercial drivers; has implications for veterinary and public health practitioners; and should help animate the emerging sociology of veterinary medicine.

'When the dog bites': What can we learn about health geography from newspaper coverage in a 'model city' for dog-bite prevention?

Despite calls for the adoption of 'One-Health' approaches, dog-bite injuries remain neglected in healthcare and public health, and our study may help to understand why. Media coverage can influence policy directions, including policies that address dogs. We collected articles (n = 65) published in two local newspapers, 2012-2017, then carried out an ethnographically-informed discourse analysis of the dog-bite reports. The newspapers portrayed dog-bites mainly as matters of public disorder, as opposed to priorities for healthcare and public health. Even as our study took place in a city that has shown dog-bite reductions without recourse to 'breed bans' or restrictions (i.e., breed-specific legislation), journalists still tended to emphasize dog breed as a narrative element in explaining dog-bite incidents. Nonetheless, the news coverage did not reproduce a 'nature versus nurture' dichotomy. Rather, the journalists presented dog breed, and presumably associated aggressive behaviour, as entanglements with social, economic, and cultural contexts. Meanwhile, the news stories reduced contextual complexity to geographic locations, as codes for community reputation, in attributing causality and morality.

Implementing a One Health approach to emerging infectious disease: reflections on the socio-political, ethical and legal dimensions

BACKGROUND

'One Health' represents a call for health researchers and practitioners at the human, animal and environmental interfaces to work together to mitigate the risks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). A One Health approach emphasizing inter-disciplinary co-operation is increasingly seen as necessary for effective EID control and prevention. There are, however, socio-political, ethical and legal challenges, which must be met by such a One Health approach.

DISCUSSION

Based on the philosophical review and critical analysis of scholarship around the theory and practice of One Health it is clear that EID events are not simply about pathogens jumping species barriers; they are comprised of complex and contingent sets of relations that involve socioeconomic and socio-political drivers and consequences with the latter extending beyond the impact of the disease. Therefore, the effectiveness of policies based on One Health depends on their implementation and alignment with or modification of public values. Despite its strong motivating rationale, implementing a One Health approach in an integrated and considered manner can be challenging, especially in the face of a perceived crisis. The effective control and prevention of EIDs therefore requires: (i) social science research to improve understanding of how EID threats and responses play out; (ii) the development of an analytic framework that catalogues case experiences with EIDs, reflects their dynamic nature and promotes inter-sectoral collaboration and knowledge synthesis; (iii) genuine public engagement processes that promote transparency, education and capture people's preferences; (iv) a set of practical principles and values that integrate ethics into decision-making procedures, against which policies and public health responses can be assessed; (v) integration of the analytic framework and the statement of principles and values outlined above; and (vi) a focus on genuine reform rather than rhetoric.

On interviewing people with pets: reflections from qualitative research on people with long-term conditions

There is mounting evidence that pets are associated with physiological, psychological and social benefits for humans. Much of this research has come from western countries, where there have been consistent calls for greater engagement with pet ownership and health. Drawing on a secondary analysis of 61 in-depth interviews with people, or carers of people, with long-term conditions, we explore how pets feature in people's narrative accounts of their experiences. Our findings demonstrate the multifaceted nature of people's relationships with pets, and the embedded and embodied ways in which human-nonhuman interactions are played out in narratives of chronic illness. Our study differs from other work on pets and health in that, by returning to the interview video recordings, we were able to explore the sometimes three-way interactions, the co(a)gency, between participants, pets and researchers. Pets were often presented as important family members, yet the researchers' responses to the presence or talk about pets was often markedly different from their reactions to other household members. We conclude with cautioning against the downgrading of pets in narrative health research. Narrative approaches may invite participants to talk about what is important to them, yet they clearly have limitations in practice.

Public health ethics and more-than-human solidarity

This article contributes to the literature on One Health and public health ethics by expanding the principle of solidarity. We conceptualise solidarity to encompass not only practices intended to assist other people, but also practices intended to assist non-human others, including animals, plants, or places. To illustrate how manifestations of humanist and more-than-human solidarity may selectively complement one another, or collide, recent responses to Hendra virus in Australia and Rabies virus in Canada serve as case examples. Given that caring relationships are foundational to health promotion, people's efforts to care for non-human others are highly relevant to public health, even when these efforts conflict with edicts issued in the name of public health. In its most optimistic explication, One Health aims to attain optimal health for humans, non-human animals and their shared environments. As a field, public health ethics needs to move beyond an exclusive preoccupation with humans, so as to account for moral complexity arising from people's diverse connections with places, plants, and non-human animals.

Unleashing their potential: a critical realist scoping review of the influence of dogs on physical activity for dog-owners and non-owners

Background

Dog-owners tend to be more physically active than non-owners; however, dogs have also been shown to inhibit physical activity for non-owners, under some circumstances.

Methods

We conducted a scoping review to identify studies pertaining to the influence of dogs on physical activity for both dog-owners and non-owners, and adopted a critical realist orientation to draw inferences about the positive and negative impact of dogs via their affect on physical and social environments.

Results

We identified 35 studies from disparate literatures for review. These studies confirm that dog and owner behaviors affect shared physical and social environments in ways that may influence physical activity patterns, not only among dog-owners but also among non-owners. The direction of influence appears to be most positive in neighborhoods exhibiting high levels of social cohesion, socioeconomic status, perceived safety, dominant culture, or all of these. In disadvantaged neighborhoods, the health of women as well as older adults may be disproportionately affected by dog and owner behavior.

Conclusions

While dogs have the potential to increase physical activity for both dog-owners and non-owners, the presence or absence of dogs will not have a standard effect across the physical and social environments of all neighborhoods. Dogs' contributions to shared environments in ways that support physical activity for all must be leveraged. Thus, specific contextual factors must be considered in relation to dogs when planning neighborhood-level interventions designed to support physical activity. We suggest this population health topic merits further investigation.

Trans-biopolitics: Complexity in interspecies relations

This article introduces the concept of trans-biopolitics to account for complexity in the intermingling of animal and human bodies, with particular attention to diseases capable of crossing the species divide from animals to humans. While zoonotic diseases never disappeared, they had re-emerged as pressing concerns by the 21st century. The concept of trans-biopolitics takes into account the power relations inherent in human and nonhuman lives in contemporary global, industrial, and technological formations. More specifically, trans-biopolitics revolves around practices determining whose lives are possible or legitimate to prolong, whose bodies are sacrificed in order to preserve the vitality of other bodies, and whose bodies are sustained yet ultimately rendered insignificant. To illustrate, we examine connections between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and feline spongiform encephalopathy, to show how certain bodies (humans, livestock) are taken into consideration in terms of health and food regulations, whereas other bodies (pets) remain at the periphery. Acknowledging human—animal relations in contemporary technological and global contexts challenges us to rethink ways in which the politics of health continues to evolve.

Diabetes in people, cats, and dogs: biomedicine and manifold ontologies

If people express salient beliefs and values in caring for pets then it is worth considering that dogs and housecats are routinely treated using the biomedical armamentarium. To investigate animal-human connections in the treatment of dogs and housecats for diabetes, we conducted ethnographic interviews in Canada with 12 pet owners and six health professionals in conjunction with a review of documentation on diabetes in cats, dogs, and people. Treating dogs and housecats for diabetes, we conclude, pivots on recognition of these animals as sentient selves. At the same time, treating diabetes in dogs and housecats helps to produce a named disease as a physical thing. In treating a housecat or a dog for diabetes, pet owners breach one of the foundational distinctions of Western science: human and nonhuman bodies exhibit continuity in terms of physicality, but a fundamental discontinuity exists when it comes to interiority.

Animal-human connections, "one health," and the syndemic approach to prevention

A syndemic involves two or more afflictions that, by interacting synergistically, contribute to excess burdens of disease. A syndemic approach to prevention, meanwhile, focuses on connections among health-related problems, considers those connections when developing health policies, and aligns with forces for social change. In this short report, we expand the syndemic concept to acknowledge the extent to which animal health connects with human health and, with reference to existing publications, we demonstrate the pertinence of this expanded definition for a syndemic approach to prevention. Our demonstration assumes practical importance in relation to the concept of 'one health', which many prominent veterinary and human health scientists have recently endorsed as a sound basis for redressing human diseases, animal diseases, and environmental degradation worldwide. While social scientists have mostly ignored animal health, few 'one health' proponents have emphasized social conditions or involved social scientists. By explicitly accommodating animal-human connections in our expanded conceptualization of a syndemic, we hope to help create a space in which human health, veterinary, and social scientists may learn from one another, collaborate in research, and cooperate to clear the way for innovations in prevention.