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Broadening the veterinary consultation: dog owners want to talk about more than physical health

Broadening the veterinary consultation: dog owners want to talk about more than physical health
Broadening the veterinary consultation: dog owners want to talk about more than physical health

Few veterinary professionals use formal quality of life (QOL) assessment tools despite their recommendation from veterinary governing bodies to enable holistic welfare assessments and target welfare improvement strategies. Perceived barriers include resistance from owners, and this study aimed to elucidate understanding of dog owner engagement with conversations and tools relating to QOL. An online survey that investigated owner experience, comfort, and opinions about vet-client discussions on topics connected to canine health and well-being, including QOL, was completed by 410 owners. Almost all owners (95.8%) were reportedly comfortable discussing QOL, yet only 32% reported their vets had addressed it. A high proportion of owners (70.8%) expressed interest in assessment tools, but only 4.4% had experienced one, none of which were QOL tools per se. Semi-structured interviews of a sub-set of four owners provided a more in-depth examination of their experience of a health and well-being assessment tool. Thematic analysis generated three themes: 'Use of assessment tools supports client-vet relationship and empowers owners', 'Owners want to talk about holistic dog care', and 'Owner feelings on the wider application of assessment tools'. Overall, our findings suggest that owners want to broaden the veterinary consultation conversation to discuss QOL and are interested in using tools, and therefore veterinary perceptions of owner-related barriers to tool application appear unfounded. Indeed, tool uptake appears to improve the vet-client relationship and boost owner confidence.

consultation, dog, quality of life, veterinary, welfare
2076-2615
Hale, Helena
507bb466-bf3c-40a3-90da-2167b2e3c0d8
Roberts, Claire
3f1c1680-edf4-4be1-9d9d-babf15050068
Blackwell, Emily
b99bc040-529a-4f57-aa96-3a392918f3e3
Roe, Emma
f7579e4e-3721-4046-a2d4-d6395f61c675
Mullan, Siobhan
ffe86d7e-877d-4711-9861-0258c2fd635e
Hale, Helena
507bb466-bf3c-40a3-90da-2167b2e3c0d8
Roberts, Claire
3f1c1680-edf4-4be1-9d9d-babf15050068
Blackwell, Emily
b99bc040-529a-4f57-aa96-3a392918f3e3
Roe, Emma
f7579e4e-3721-4046-a2d4-d6395f61c675
Mullan, Siobhan
ffe86d7e-877d-4711-9861-0258c2fd635e

Hale, Helena, Roberts, Claire, Blackwell, Emily, Roe, Emma and Mullan, Siobhan (2023) Broadening the veterinary consultation: dog owners want to talk about more than physical health. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 13 (3), [392]. (doi:10.3390/ani13030392).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Few veterinary professionals use formal quality of life (QOL) assessment tools despite their recommendation from veterinary governing bodies to enable holistic welfare assessments and target welfare improvement strategies. Perceived barriers include resistance from owners, and this study aimed to elucidate understanding of dog owner engagement with conversations and tools relating to QOL. An online survey that investigated owner experience, comfort, and opinions about vet-client discussions on topics connected to canine health and well-being, including QOL, was completed by 410 owners. Almost all owners (95.8%) were reportedly comfortable discussing QOL, yet only 32% reported their vets had addressed it. A high proportion of owners (70.8%) expressed interest in assessment tools, but only 4.4% had experienced one, none of which were QOL tools per se. Semi-structured interviews of a sub-set of four owners provided a more in-depth examination of their experience of a health and well-being assessment tool. Thematic analysis generated three themes: 'Use of assessment tools supports client-vet relationship and empowers owners', 'Owners want to talk about holistic dog care', and 'Owner feelings on the wider application of assessment tools'. Overall, our findings suggest that owners want to broaden the veterinary consultation conversation to discuss QOL and are interested in using tools, and therefore veterinary perceptions of owner-related barriers to tool application appear unfounded. Indeed, tool uptake appears to improve the vet-client relationship and boost owner confidence.

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animals-13-00392 (1) - Version of Record
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 18 January 2023
Published date: 24 January 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: This research and the APC were funded by Dogs Trust Canine Welfare Grants. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Keywords: consultation, dog, quality of life, veterinary, welfare

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 476100
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/476100
ISSN: 2076-2615
PURE UUID: b2395896-5cd9-4072-af2c-ee5dbec772e2
ORCID for Emma Roe: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4674-2133

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Apr 2023 14:08
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:10

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Contributors

Author: Helena Hale
Author: Claire Roberts
Author: Emily Blackwell
Author: Emma Roe ORCID iD
Author: Siobhan Mullan

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