University Cats? Predictors of Staff and Student Responsiveness Toward On-Campus Cat Visitations

As most university-based animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) feature interactions with dogs, little is known about the feasibility of providing opportunities to interact with cats. Few studies have examined employee or student interest in interacting with on-campus cats, and virtually nothing is known about the role of participants' characteristics and perceptions in shaping their interest. Using a cross-sectional survey, the current study assessed participants' responsiveness toward an on-campus cat visitation program in a sample of higher-education staff and students (n = 1,438). Using hierarchical regression analyses, responsiveness was modeled on participants' demographic characteristics (i.e., employee or student, gender, age), the personality trait of emotionality, perceived stress, prior animal experiences (i.e., cat/dog ownership, cat allergy and phobia, responsiveness toward on-campus dogs), and perceived risks of on-campus cats. Regression analyses indicated that emotionality (beta = 0.15, p < 0.001), being female (beta = 0.06, p < 0.05), being open to a dog visitation program (beta = 0.50, p < 0.001), and being a cat owner (beta = 0.13, p < 0.001), were positively associated with responsiveness toward a cat visitation program, whereas having a cat phobia (beta = -0.22, p < 0.001), cat allergy (beta = -0.13, p < 0.001), being a dog owner (beta = -0.08, p < 0.001), and perceiving interactions with cats as risky (beta = -0.14, p < 0.001) were negatively associated. Interestingly, although we hypothesized positive associations between perceived stress and responsiveness, these associations were not significant (beta = -0.03, p = 0.305), nor did we observe significant differences by student or employee status (beta = 0.02, p = 0.610). These findings are the first to elucidate the role of staff and students' features in shaping responsiveness toward on-campus cats in higher education, which may inform the design and implementation of on-campus visitation programs.