Tenencia de animales de compañía como soporte emocional frente al estrés académico en estudiantes de séptimo ciclo de la Licenciatura en Psicología de la Universidad de Cuenca, durante el periodo 2022-2023

Abstract

Academic stress is defined as a reaction of emotional, cognitive and behavioral activation to stimuli and/or academic circumstances, and has been investigated and related to variables such as gender, social support, etc. Consequently, and as part of the tools that a person has for the correct coping of academic stress, the benefits of being accompanied are located, the company becomes a positive factor that allows coping with academic situations that generated imbalance in the individual. Therefore, the general objective of this research is to describe the perception of pet ownership as an emotional support in the face of academic stress. In order to be able to have ample information regarding the research, a qualitative approach, non-experimental, cross-sectional and exploratory-descriptive design was used. The research process worked with a population of seven students, who were selected based on exclusion and inclusion criteria; the instruments used were the sociodemographic card and the semi-structured interview. For the planning of this project, it was identified and recognized that no scientific sources have been found that have previously studied the problem of this research in Ecuador. The results of the research show that the possession of a pet represents an important factor when facing a negative emotion, since they provide emotional support mainly through their company, helping to regulate the emotions experienced by the students.