Addressing Individual Values to Impact Prudent Antimicrobial Prescribing in Animal Agriculture

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing public health threat driven by antimicrobial use-both judicious and injudicious-in people and animals. In animal agriculture, antimicrobials are used to treat, control, and prevent disease in herds of animals. While such use generally occurs under the broad supervision of a veterinarian, individual animals are often treated by farm owners or managers. The decision to administer antimicrobials is therefore influenced not only by the clinical situation but also by the motivations and priorities of different individual actors. Many studies have examined the drivers of external forces such as costs, workload and time constraints, or social pressures on antimicrobial use by veterinarians and producers, but none have explored the role of individually held values in influencing decision-making related to antimicrobial use. Values are deeply held normative orientations that guide the formation of attitudes and behaviors across multiple contexts. Values have been shown to be strongly tied to perceptions of and attitudes toward polarizing topics such as climate change, and preliminary evidence suggests that values are also associated with attitudes to antimicrobial resistance and stewardship. In this article, we draw on lessons learned in other fields (human health care, climate change science) to explore how values could be tied to the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that drive antimicrobial use and prescribing in animal agriculture. We also provide suggestions for ways to build a bridge between the veterinary and social sciences and incorporate values into future research aimed at promoting antimicrobial stewardship in animal agriculture.

Examining the Effect of Context, Beliefs, and Values on UK Farm Veterinarians’ Antimicrobial Prescribing: A Randomized Experimental Vignette and Cross-Sectional Survey

“…What evidence does exist about vets’ prescribing is, therefore, more tentative than the evidence for doctors’ prescribing, and it is important to continue building this evidence base to strengthen knowledge of non-clinical influences on vets’ prescribing. Furthermore, there are increasing calls for this work to be informed by the social sciences [ 14 , 40 , 41 ].…”

“…Due to this similarity in these challenges, insights from environmental psychology related to environmental behaviors and values have been drawn upon in developing this study. Furthermore, since this study was conducted, others have also highlighted the potential role of values in influencing vets’ and doctors’ antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship behaviors [ 40 , 57 ].…”

Farmers' Perceptions of Preventing Antibiotic Resistance on Sheep and Beef Farms: Risk, Responsibility, and Action

“…The farmers tended to interpret the sector wide targets in an individualistic manner and placed value on their situational knowledge when treating animals with antibiotics. People prefer communication that is tailor-made to them and their values ( 58 ). Thus, veterinarians could share knowledge and understanding about responsible antibiotic use with farmers based on their values (e.g., animal welfare, reputation) through personal stories.…”

Reducing Antimicrobial Use and Dependence in Livestock Production Systems: A Social and Economic Sciences Perspective on an Interdisciplinary Approach

“…Within this category, typical extension instruments such as articles in agricultural magazines, demonstration farms, leaflets, study days, digital apps, and others are found. This is arguably one of the most used and investigated routes, mainly in the field of social veterinary epidemiology, which is the study of human behavior that affects the causes, spread, prevention and control of animal diseases and health problems (79), and related disciplines (80)(81)(82).…”