Barriers veterinarians experience while discssing a dog's overweight.
Summary
During a randomized pilot study, it was found that veterinarians find it difficult to discuss overweight. Thus, the main question for this study arose: What are barriers and motivators for veterinarians to discuss a dog’s overweight. Sub hypotheses were formed based on literature to investigate if lack of time, fear of offending patients and lack of skills are potential barriers and if feeling responsible and feeling compassion are potential motivators for the veterinarian to discuss overweight. Self-sampling was applied to obtain 15 primary care veterinarians located in Utrecht and Gelderland as participants for the semi-structural interviews. Also, a 5 Likert-scale survey was developed and spread by using several social media containing statements regarding the potential barriers and motivators. The quantitative results indicated that the respondents did not show any barriers while discussing overweight, however due to the possibility of social desirable answers the results of the qualitative study seem more reliable. The results of the qualitative study showed that veterinarians experience barriers and motivators while discussing overweight. The most prominent motivator was feeling responsible and the most prominent barrier seemed to be customer dissatisfaction. However, also lack of time and lack of skills are experienced as a barrier while discussing overweight.