Exploring Australian veterinary industry attitudes to reducing fear in the vet clinic

Research project information

You are invited to participate in the research project: Exploring fear-free veterinary care in the Australian veterinary industry

This project is being conducted by Dr. Susan Hazel, Ms Petra Edwards, Dr. Michelle McArthur and Dr. Bradley Smith. This research will form the basis for Petra’s PhD degree at the University of Adelaide under the supervision of the investigators listed above. There are no commercial sponsors or external partners or funding involved in this research project.

Why am I being invited to participate?

You are invited to participate because you are a qualified veterinarian or veterinary nurse that currently works with dogs in the veterinary industry (or studying to become one), living and working in Australia, able to read and understand English fluently, and are over 18 years of age.

What am I being invited to do?

If you consent, you will be participating in an online survey asking questions about your attitudes toward fear free veterinary care and your attitudes toward animals generally. We expect the survey will take approximately 15min for your time, and you can withdraw from the survey prior to submission at any time. There are no expected physical or emotional risks associated with participating in this research project.

What are the potential benefits of the research project?

We hope this research project will increase our understanding of the Australian veterinary industry's attitudes toward fear-free veterinary care and how often they use fear-free techniques. This project also aims to investigate the relationship between attitudes to animals generally and attitudes toward and implementation of fear-free veterinary care. This will likely influence future research into strategies to reduce fear in the veterinary context based on the attitudes of veterinary staff and veterinary students. We hope this research may have an impact on the ability for veterinary staff to reduce fear in the veterinary context and therefore reduce the risk of injury to veterinary staff working with dogs.

What will happen to my information?

Your survey responses will be anonymous. There will be no identifiable data collected from your participation in this survey. As such, there are no perceived risks to your privacy or confidentiality.

Your anonymous survey responses will be kept on an external hard drive during analysis. Upon completion of the study, your anonymous data will be kept on the University of Adelaide protected network, where only Chief Investigator, Dr. Susan Hazel, will have access.

The researchers aim to publish the results of this research project as part of a PhD thesis and in a scientific journal, and hope to present it at scientific or industry conferences. Sometimes as part of publication, the journal requires data to be loaded to an online repository (eg. Figshare). The non-identifiable data will be uploaded, and may be used by other researchers, if this is the case.

Your information will only be used as described in this participant information sheet and it will only be disclosed according to the consent provided, except as required by law.

If you have any questions about the project, please contact:

Dr Susan Hazel
Susan.hazel@adelaide.edu.au | Phone: (08) 8521 2828

Ms Petra Edwards
Petra.edwards@adelaide.edu.au | Phone: (08) 8313 7881

The study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Adelaide (approval number H-2019-245). This research project will be conducted according to the NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2007 (Updated 2018). If you have questions or problems associated with the practical aspects of your participation in the project, or wish to raise a concern or complaint about the project, then you should consult the Principal Investigator.

If you wish to speak with an independent person regarding concerns or a complaint, the University’s policy on research involving human participants, or your rights as a participant, please contact the Human Research Ethics Committee’s Secretariat on:

Phone: +61 8 8313 6028
Email: hrec@adelaide.edu.au
Post: Level 4, Rundle Mall Plaza, 50 Rundle Mall, ADELAIDE SA 5000

Any complaint or concern will be treated in confidence and fully investigated. You will be informed of the outcome.

If you would like to participate in the survey: Please click ‘Next’ to provide your consent and begin.