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Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial

In the UK, it is currently recommended that owned cats be neutered from four months of age. However, its uptake is inconsistent across the veterinary profession. Here we assess the effect of a brief video intervention that aimed to encourage four month neutering, whilst preserving clinical autonomy....

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Autores principales: McDonald, Jenni, Clements, Jane
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8827477/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35139101
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263353
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author McDonald, Jenni
Clements, Jane
author_facet McDonald, Jenni
Clements, Jane
author_sort McDonald, Jenni
collection PubMed
description In the UK, it is currently recommended that owned cats be neutered from four months of age. However, its uptake is inconsistent across the veterinary profession. Here we assess the effect of a brief video intervention that aimed to encourage four month neutering, whilst preserving clinical autonomy. We compare this theory-driven approach with traditional information giving and a control group. Veterinary surgeons who regularly undertook feline neutering work in the UK but did not routinely neuter cats at four months and/or recommend four month neutering for client owned cats were randomised into three groups (n = 234). Participants received either no information, a written summary of evidence or the video. The primary behaviour outcomes were the recommending and carrying out of neutering cats at four months. Evaluative, belief and stages of change measures were also collected. Self-reported outcomes were assessed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, two months post-intervention and six months post-intervention. At two months, participants that had received the video intervention were significantly more likely to have started recommending neutering cats at four months. At six months, participants that had received the video intervention were significantly more likely to have started carrying out neutering cats at four months. There were no significant behaviour changes for the other groups. At two months, the video intervention was associated with a significant increase in thinking about, and speaking to colleagues about, four-month neutering, relative to the control group. The written summary of evidence had no similar effect on stages of change, despite it being perceived as a significantly more helpful resource relative to the video. To conclude, a brief one-off video intervention resulted in an increase in positive behaviours towards neutering cats at 4 months, likely mediated by the social influences of the intervention prompting the opportunity to reflect and discuss four-month neutering with colleagues.
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spelling pubmed-88274772022-02-10 Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial McDonald, Jenni Clements, Jane PLoS One Research Article In the UK, it is currently recommended that owned cats be neutered from four months of age. However, its uptake is inconsistent across the veterinary profession. Here we assess the effect of a brief video intervention that aimed to encourage four month neutering, whilst preserving clinical autonomy. We compare this theory-driven approach with traditional information giving and a control group. Veterinary surgeons who regularly undertook feline neutering work in the UK but did not routinely neuter cats at four months and/or recommend four month neutering for client owned cats were randomised into three groups (n = 234). Participants received either no information, a written summary of evidence or the video. The primary behaviour outcomes were the recommending and carrying out of neutering cats at four months. Evaluative, belief and stages of change measures were also collected. Self-reported outcomes were assessed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, two months post-intervention and six months post-intervention. At two months, participants that had received the video intervention were significantly more likely to have started recommending neutering cats at four months. At six months, participants that had received the video intervention were significantly more likely to have started carrying out neutering cats at four months. There were no significant behaviour changes for the other groups. At two months, the video intervention was associated with a significant increase in thinking about, and speaking to colleagues about, four-month neutering, relative to the control group. The written summary of evidence had no similar effect on stages of change, despite it being perceived as a significantly more helpful resource relative to the video. To conclude, a brief one-off video intervention resulted in an increase in positive behaviours towards neutering cats at 4 months, likely mediated by the social influences of the intervention prompting the opportunity to reflect and discuss four-month neutering with colleagues. Public Library of Science 2022-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8827477/ /pubmed/35139101 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263353 Text en © 2022 McDonald, Clements https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
McDonald, Jenni
Clements, Jane
Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial
title Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial
title_full Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial
title_fullStr Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial
title_short Evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at UK-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: A randomised controlled trial
title_sort evaluation of a brief video intervention aimed at uk-based veterinary surgeons to encourage neutering cats at four months old: a randomised controlled trial
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8827477/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35139101
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263353
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