Client behaviour change is at the heart of veterinary practice, where promoting animal health and welfare is often synonymous with engaging clients in animal management practices. In the medical realm, extensive research points to the link between practitioner communication and patient behavioural outcomes, suggesting that the veterinary industry could benefit from a deeper understanding of veterinarian communication and its effects on client motivation. Whilst extensive studies have quantified language components typical of the veterinary consultation, the literature is lacking in-depth qualitative analysis in this context. The objective of this study was to address this deficit, and offer new critical insight into veterinary communication strategies in the pursuit of client behaviour change. Role-play interactions (n = 15) between UK cattle veterinarians and an actress experienced in medical and veterinary education were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Analysis revealed that, overall, veterinarians tend to communicate in a directive style (minimal eliciting of client opinion, dominating the consultation agenda, prioritising instrumental support), reflecting a paternalistic role in the consultation interaction. Given this finding, recommendations for progress in the veterinary industry are made; namely, the integration of evidence-based medical communication methodologies into clinical training. Use of these types of methodologies may facilitate the adoption of more mutualistic, relationship-centred communication in veterinary practice, supporting core psychological elements of client motivation and resultant behaviour change.

Achieving herd health and welfare improvement increasingly relies on cattle veterinarians to train and advise farmers, placing veterinary interactions at the heart of knowledge exchange. Cattle veterinarians recognise their influence and the need to be proactive advisors but struggle with acting upon this awareness in daily practice, reporting a need to enhance their advisory approach to inspire farmer behaviour change. Understanding how veterinarian-farmer interactions positively or negatively influence the enactment of change on farm is therefore essential to support the cattle veterinary profession. This paper adopts a qualitative approach to conceptualise how-and under what circumstances-veterinary advice has the potential to support and inspire farmer engagement with behaviour change on the UK dairy farm. Fourteen UK dairy farms were recruited to take part in a qualitative study involving research observation of a 'typical' advisory consultation between veterinarian and farmer (n=14) followed by separate, in-depth interviews with the farmer(s) and their respective veterinarian. Interview data were organised using a template coding method and analysed thematically. Whilst accuracy of veterinary advisory content was valued, it was a relational context of trust, shared veterinarian-farmer understanding and meaningful interpretation of advice at a local (farmer) level that was most likely to enact change. Critically, these relational factors were reported to work together synergistically; a trusting relationship was an essential-but not necessarily sufficient-component to create a culture of change. Findings suggest that cattle veterinarians may benefit from tailoring advisory services to the farmers' specific world view,

The problem of nonadherence to advice is recognized in several professional relationships, including the veterinarian-client relationship. A better understanding of farmer perspectives may help to improve efficiency in veterinary herd health management. This study aimed to qualitatively and quantitatively describe farmers' reasons for adherence and nonadherence with veterinary recommendations regarding preventive herd health measures. We carried out structured telephone interviews about implementation of preventive measures with owners or staff of 163 dairy farms and 6 beef farms. The farms had received an advisory visit by their veterinarian (n = 36), who had documented the preventive measures they had recommended. The interviewer noted verbatim responses to reasons for implementing preventive measures fully, partially, or not at all, and we analyzed these responses thematically. We also conducted a quantitative analysis, in which we calculated descriptive statistics of the proportions of different categories of reasons stated by the farmers. Altogether, 726 preventive measures (range per farm 1 to 17; median 3; interquartile range 2 to 6) were documented. We identified 3 organizing themes related to adherence or nonadherence with veterinary advice: trust, feasibility, and priorities. Overall, the most commonly stated reasons related to trust (in the veterinarian, in the advisory process, or in individual preventive measures). The most common reasons not to follow the recommended advice were related to feasibility. Based on the results, we recommend that, to improve adherence to their advice, veterinarians pay increased attention to farmers' needs, priorities, goals, and motives, as well as to farmers' perceptions of the effectiveness of individual preventive measures. We also recommend that veterinarians need to increase their focus on recommending preventive measures that are practically feasible to implement on farms.

BackgroundCommunication skills to promote changes in management routines are especially important in veterinary herd health management (VHHM). Motivational interviewing (MI) is a communication methodology shown to be effective in stimulating client behaviour change. This study aimed to evaluate a 6-month MI-training programme for veterinarians.MethodsThirty-eight cattle veterinarians gathered in groups of four to eight at six workshops separated by 3–4 weeks, during which they read literature and practised their skills. MI skills were evaluated before and after training using audio recordings of role-play conversations with professional actors. Recordings were coded using the MI Treatment Integrity Code (MITI) V.4.2.1. The effect of training was evaluated by 16 regression models. Participants filled in questionnaires about their experiences.ResultsAll participants improved their MI skills after training in at least one parameter and significant improvements were found in all but 3 of the 16 statistically evaluated MITI variables. The mean (25th–75th percentiles) ratings of the veterinarians’ perceived relevance of MI skills in their work was 4.9 (4.0–6.0) and of their satisfaction with the programme was 5.1 (5.0–6.0) on a 6-point Likert scale.ConclusionsResults show that MI training was perceived to be useful and relevant and successfully improved veterinarians’ communication skills in VHHM.

suggests that training veterinarians in a client-centered communication methodology such as MI may increase the demand for and success of VHHM.