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Emotional Support Animals at College
owners were asked to review an early draft of the manuscript and provide feedback
about whether their perspective about ESAs on campus was adequately captured, and
the findings were then refined based on this feedback. Triangulation was utilized by
collecting data from multiple sources: ESA owners and roommates of ESA owners.
Preliminary and background information was also provided by SDS staff.
RESULTS
Participants spent an average of 4.6 hours (SD = 4.59) weekly taking care of their ESA's
needs and 22.3 hours (SD = 28.3) weekly playing with or bonding with their ESA (see
Table 2). While six students reported only rarely or sometimes experiencing difficulty
juggling care of their ESA with their schooling, the other student said they never had
difficulty. Results of the Spearman correlation between the amount of time spent and
difficulty encountered in juggling care for one's ESA and school was not statistically
significant, (ρ = - .13, p = .78).
Six reported that having an ESA had somewhat or significantly increased their
social interactions with others. However, there was not a statistically significant relationship
between the amount of time spent playing with and bonding with one's ESA
and the perceived impact of the ESA on social interactions (ρ = .27, p = .56). Further,
six participants said they rarely had negative experiences with other students related to
their ESA, while one said they never had negative experiences.
Qualitative analysis revealed a total of 13 themes related to the participants themselves,
other students, and the university. Overall, students were emphatic about the
benefits they accrued from having an ESA and that the benefits far outweighed any
challenges they experienced. The primary positive aspects were connected to mental
health benefits, taking care of oneself, and increased social interactions. Students also
identified some downsides to having an ESA, including having to disclose one's mental
health diagnosis, needing to educate others about ESAs, sharing their ESA with others,
ESA-related expenses, the availability of pet supplies, barriers to respite care, transportation
and parking difficulties, potential pet loss, and the difficulty of obtaining a letter
from a health professional to qualify for permission to have an ESA on campus. An
additional theme emerged related to roommates in general.
Benefits
Taking care of oneself. Several respondents reported that their ESA promoted taking
care of both the animal and themselves, which resulted in hygienic, emotional, and
academic benefits. As one person stated,
Just being able to take care of an animal helps me take care of myself. That's just like the
biggest thing to me. Without her I wouldn't go to class. I would just lay in bed and just be
in bed all day and do nothing and just hate my life. I would never shower, I would never
brush my teeth because I just wouldn't want to get up. But, like, literally having her and
wanting to take care of her makes me take care of myself and I thrive because I have her.
94 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

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