The quality of life of dog (non)ownerships in older people: physical and psychological health

Objective: to identify and compare physical and psychological health peculiarities among dog (non)ownerships. Methods: questionnaire: International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), Short Form Of Health Related Quality Of Life Questionnaire (SF-36), The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, mathematical statistics. Results: the results indicate that physical and psychological health, the quality of life and self-esteem is valued higher among dog ownerships. The results had a statistically significant improvement in both groups (p<0,05). Conclusion: 1. The physical activity level results had a statistically significant improvement among dog ownership and dog non-ownership participants (p<0,05). According to the results, two thirds has a high physical activity level, third moderate physical activity level among dog ownerships, while dog non-ownerships only 4 percentage has high physical activity level. It shows, that people who owns the dog they are more motivated to be physically active and tend to maintain the appropriate physical activity level for health. 2. The results of the quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) were statistically significantly different between both dog ownerships and non-ownerships in terms of physical and mental health (p <0.05). All physical and mental areas of health were rated as a higher score for the people who are living with dog. This leads to the conclusion that the quality of life among dog ownerships is better than those who do not have a dog. 3. The overall results of self-esteem data reveal that the dog owners are valuing themselves in a higher score. This means, that there is a higher self-confidence and a much more positive attitude towards oneself as a unique personality among those who live with the dog. The difference in the level of self-esteem is statistically significant between both groups (p