About the project
Project team: Prof Samantha Hurn (PI), Dr Alexander Badman-King, Dr Fenella Eason, and Dr Emily Stone.
The EASE team were awarded a grant from the Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) for a project exploring how best to support children following the death of a companion animal.
Companion animals are widely regarded as family members in much of the developed world. However, while grief following the death or loss of human family members is socially acknowledged and validated, grief following the loss of companion animals is not always recognised in the same way and may even be trivialised. Such cases constitute what psychologists term ‘disenfranchised grief’. When grief is disenfranchised, the bereaved are more likely to experience prolonged, damaging psychological distress. Because children are often closely bonded with companion or support animals, they will likely experience significant distress following the deaths of their nonhuman friends or the termination of a support relationship. Existing research on pet keeping suggests that caring for companion animals teaches children vital skills including empathy and responsibility. It is also through the loss of companion animals that many children learn about death. However, like companion animals, children are legal dependants. While they may help with caring for pets in life, children are seldom included in decision-making processes around end of life care for pets. In many contexts they will be actively shielded from the reality of a companion animal’s ailing health or imminent demise, and may only become aware of their pet’s death after the event.
This project builds on existing research which recognises that supporting and validating the bereaved in the run up to, during and following the loss of life or the end of a supportive relationship can improve their mental health and wellbeing. Little existing research has considered children as disenfranchised grievers following pet or support animal loss, and the impact of that loss on their mental wellbeing. The project therefore aimed to i) explore experiences of a sample of children who have lost a nonhuman companion or support animal; ii) ascertain when, how and why/why not children are involved in end of life or relationship discussions, decision making and/or care practices (including euthanasia); iii) how they and their carers perceive their experiences have impacted on their wellbeing; and iv) whether or not additional or alternative measures might benefit them or other children in similar situations in the future.
Read our project related blog posts:
- Is it better to have loved and lost? Confronting disenfranchised grief through the lens of symbiotic ethics (post 1 in this series)
- Early exposure to the trauma of a bad death: Totoro’s story (post 2 in this series)
- Making connections with Mau (post 3 in this series)
- Ponyo, shared pain and the materiality of memorialisation (post 4 in this series)
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Anthrozoology as Symbiotic Ethics 