Pet Owner Education Leads to Trust & Satisfaction

In the Literature

Kogan LR. Dog owners and preventative healthcare: knowledge level, interest, and impact on perceptions of veterinarians’ trustworthiness and empathy. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2024;263(3):1-9. doi:10.2460/javma.24.07.0438

The Research …

Veterinary preventive healthcare (PHC) appointments have been decreasing.¹ Many reasons for this decrease have been proposed, including inadequate communication on the importance of PHC for pets.^2-5

This study^a evaluated pet owner interest in and knowledge of veterinary PHC topics, satisfaction with how clinicians communicate about PHC, and perception of the trustworthiness and empathy of clinicians. An online survey of dog owners (n = 738) in the United States asked participants to rate their knowledge of 13 PHC topics (ie, importance of mental enrichment, how to assess quality of life, vaccines, parasites, importance of routine diagnostics, weight issues, nail care, grooming, ear care, who to consult for behavior problems, breed predisposition to disease, dental care, senior care), their interest in learning about PHC topics, what source of information they use for PHC topics, and their level of satisfaction and trust with their pet’s clinician.

Participants indicated being most familiar with the importance of mental enrichment (72.8%), how to assess quality of life (69.6%), vaccines (68.7%), and parasites (63.7%) and were least familiar with breed predisposition to disease (41.6%), dental care (40.7%), and senior care (37.4%). Participants were most interested in learning about how to assess quality of life (44.6%), the importance of mental enrichment (40.7%), breed predisposition to disease (38.9%), and senior care (37.4%) and were least interested in learning about parasites (26.7%), who to consult for behavior problems (22.9%), and weight issues (22.8%).

Most participants agreed with statements about the importance of PHC in relation to pet health (95.4%)—especially early disease detection, improving quality of life, and increasing lifespan—and agreed that knowledge about PHC could help reduce anxiety about their pet’s health (85.9%) and help them feel more in control (90.1%). Many participants (86.3%) indicated their pet had a regular clinician. Of those, 89% reported moderate to high satisfaction. Receiving PHC information from the clinician was preferred by a majority of participants (79.9%), helped increase trust (81.2%), and was an important consideration when choosing a clinician (85.6%). Trust was significantly linked with satisfaction. The most important factor when selecting a clinician was trust that the clinician had the pet’s best interest as their top priority, which scored higher than cost and location.

… The Takeaways

Key pearls to put into practice:

• Taking time to address questions and educate owners is as important as a medical examination and is imperative to strengthen the veterinary-client-patient relationship and improve patient health outcomes. Written materials on relevant health topics or scheduling adjustments can be considered if time is a concern.

• Personalized PHC is key to empowering owners, building trust, and creating a shared decision-making model, which can lead to increased owner satisfaction.

• Communication and transparency are necessary to build trust. Communication training should be viewed as equivalent to continuing education.

^a This study was partially funded by Preventive Vet, which had no direct contribution or influence on the study design, data collection, analysis, or conclusions.