THE HUMAN-ANIMAL BOND AND VETERINARIAN-CLIENT-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP AS POTENTIAL DETERMINANTS OF DOG OWNER COMPLIANCE

Adams VJ, Dowling PM, Shmon CL, et al.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the association between dog owner compliance and potential determinants using a questionnaire for data collection. One of our hypotheses is that there are aspects of the veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR) that can be identified by veterinarians and used to predict client compliance. By identifying elements of the human-animal bond (HAB) that are associated with compliance, we also hope to detect one or more significant factors that could be used to increase dog owner compliance with short-term antimicrobial medication. Much of the preliminary work has involved the development, testing, and refinement of attitude statements and measurement scales to characterize features of the VCPR and HAB in a client questionnaire. Owners of dogs who were visiting veterinary clinics for an appointment were recruited for the pilot study and asked to complete a questionnaire. Factor analysis of the responses were used to develop a shorter revised client questionnaire that will assess the strength of the HAB and VCPR for the owner-patient pairs enrolled in the final study. The results of the factor analysis will be presented.

Financial support for this study was provided by WCVM's Companion Animal Health Fund and Bayer Animal Health.