A Sequential Explanatory Study Examining the Buffering Effects of Human–Animal Interaction on Stress and Quality of Life among Work-from-Home Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
SUMMARY
This paper presents the findings of investigation how human-animal interactions (HAI) can reduce stress and 14 improve quality of life (QOL) for employees working from home during the COVID period in the Philippines.
The manuscript makes a valuable contribution to the field of COVID.
The manuscript displays some degree of originality, making it suited for the Journal's scope and potentially beneficial for the scientific community.
The strength of this study is Explanatory Sequential Design.
GENERAL COMMENTS FOR AUTHORS
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The title of the article is well worded, but I would recommend adding in the title “in the Philippines”: “A Sequential Explanatory Study Examining the Buffering Effects of Human – Animal Interaction on Stress and Quality of Life among Work-from-Home Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines”.
RESEARCH METHODS
Please provide a clear justification for choosing Mann-Whitney U (MWU) test.
I recommend that Skewness, Kurtosis, and standard errors for Skewness and Kurtosis could be provided for all variables. We need to see if parametric methods - the Student t-tests - were really not available.
Given the mixed nature of this study, it is essential to maintain a justification of qualitative data analyzes. All steps of qualitative analyzes must be justified (why these and not others were used), as well as a precise argumentation of possible alternatives justifying that they are less suitable than the present one.
RESEARCH RESULTS
I recommend to present effect sizes when you compare variables between pet owners and non-pet owners.
Mediation analysis typically assumes that the observed variables are normally distributed within each group (or the distribution of the variables should be approximately normal).
It is advisable to incorporate an explanation and justification that it was possible to apply Structural equation modeling (SEM- i.e. mediation analysis) procedures.
DISCUSSION PART
The Discussion section needs to address whether the Philippines' results differ from those of other countries.
Please discuss the effect sizes (for instance, eta-squared). Were the observed effects strong/mild/weak? Compare the effect sizes in your data with the effect sizes in previous studies if possible.
I would like to see a justification of why the study focuses solely on individuals who own canine and/or feline pets.
It must be clearly stated which scales do not follow a normal distribution.
It is not clear why the Tables 7-12 show both means and medians. If medians are given, then the interquartile range must be given.
Author Response
Thank you for the significant comments and suggestions for the improvement of our paper. We appreciate your time and effort on reviewing our work. Attached are the responses to your valuable suggestions.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for the opportunity to review this study entitled “A Sequential Explanatory Study Examining the Buffering Effects of Human – Animal Interaction on Stress and Quality of Life among Work-from-Home Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic” (covid-2979954).
The paper focused on the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic and, specifically, on the lockdown period. The aim is to investigate how human-animal interactions (HAI) can reduce stress and improve the quality of life (QOL) for employees working from home during the lockdown period. Participants were 770 respondents, of which 385 were pet owners and 385 were non-pet owners.
In my opinion, the research topic is relevant, and the study is interesting. The use integration of qualitative and quantitative methods is a strong point of the manuscript. Parallelly, some issues need to be addressed before the paper will be suitable for publication. The major work concerns bibliographic integration, especially in the discussion and conclusions sections.
· Abstract: Please, add information about the sample (Mean age, SD, Percentage of boys and girls) to provide a clear picture of what will be presented in the paper.
· Abstract: brief conclusions about the implication of the research are missing.
· Introduction: It would be beneficial to incorporate trend or longitudinal studies, if available. Given that the authors contextualize this study within the psychological impact of COVID-19 on individuals, I suggest integrating some papers to present a comprehensive framework in the introduction. These could be supplemented by further literature exploration by the authors:
- Hyland et al., 2021; doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113905.
- Gori & Topino, 2021; doi: 10.3390/ijerph18115651
· Introduction: “2. Literature Review” section should be included within the introduction: “1.1 Literature Review”.
· Introduction: the objectives of the study should be separated from the literature review paragraph via a new subheading.
· The "discussions" is the most lacking section of the paper and should be enriched and expanded.
· A section where the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are clearly discussed should be elaborated in the final part of the discussions.
· The “Conclusions and Recommendations” section should be enriched by further discussing the practical implications of the results of this research.
Best wishes
Author Response
Thank you for the significant comments and suggestions for the improvement of our paper. We appreciate your time and effort on reviewing our work. Attached are the responses to your valuable suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear authors congratulation to your interesting and scietific work :
A Sequential Explanatory Study Examining the Buffering Effects of Human – Animal Interaction on Stress and Quality of Life among Work-from-Home Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Content:
The paper explores how human-animal interactions (HAI) can reduce stress and improve quality of life (QOL) for employees working from home during the COvid.
The paper aims to demonstrate that human-animal interactions can effectively reduce stress levels.
results/advice:
However, engaging in positive coping strategies like physical exercise, nurturing social ties, prayer, learning new skills, and eating healthily has been shown to alleviate psychological distress (lines 40-42)
how important / dangerous is:
technostress: (1) Techno-overload, where individuals feel compelled to line 92
work more, for longer periods, or to change their work habits; (2) Techno-invasion, which .... line 93
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Excellent result / idea:
Previous research has marked that pet owners generally experience better emotional well-being and social functioning compared to those without pets [60]. It has been found that physical interaction between humans and animals can offer comfort and relaxation ...
Research Instruments
Authors used three standardized tests to evaluate the participants’ HAI levels: the Human-Animal Interaction Scale (HAIS), a work stress questionnaire, and a quality of life 206 (QOL) scale ...
Important conclusion:
Authors´ empirical and qualitative findings reveal that, amidst a pandemic, pet owners report lower levels of stress compared to those without pets, attributing to a higher QOL through the supportive role of HAI.
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Well structured article
Authors wrote this paper with passion and enthusiasm.
Data analysis - very well - it explains/specifies problems
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Implement some ideas: connection with pastoral services and STRESS and QoL :
Maturkanič, P.; Čergeťová, I.T.; Králik, R.; Hlad, Ľ.; Roubalová, M.; Martin, J.G.; Judák, V.; Akimjak, A.; Petrikovičová, L. The Phenomenon of Social and Pastoral Service in Eastern Slovakia and Northwestern Czech Republic during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparison of Two Selected Units of Former Czechoslovakia in the Context of the Perspective of Positive Solutions. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 2480. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042480
and
Frantisek Murgas, Michal Podzimek, Frantisek Petrovic, Anna Tirpakova, Roman Kralik THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOSITY ON QUALITY OF LIFE Acta Missiologica 2023 pp. 169-186
https://www.actamissiologica.com/sub/am_2_2023.pdf
Very clear structure,
Author Response
Thank you for the significant comments and suggestions for the improvement of our paper. We appreciate your time and effort on reviewing our work. Attached are the responses to your valuable suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
