Hohn E W, Williams J H, Kirkpatrick R D
Department of Companion Animal Medicine & Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Medunsa, Republic of South Africa.
J S Afr Vet Assoc. 1992 Sep;63(3):121-4.
A university-based hospital serving mainly a developing community readily appreciated that its clientele was from a very different sociological and cultural background than that of the professional staff and that developed and developing communities and their pets exhibit different patterns in their health status, with most diseases being predominantly related to socio-economic predicament. The need for a community-orientated service was recognised. From 1987 to 1988, the small animal outpatient clinic was used for an informal, unstructured sociological observation and interview-based study of the clientele and their pets. During this period, an informal educational programme was implemented to teach basic pet health care, and the efficacy of this programme was empirically gauged by comparing the knowledge and attitudes of first-time clients with those of regular clients. Regular clients appeared to become increasingly concerned about the health and management of their pets and the condition of their animals appeared to improve, with a corresponding decline in the degree of parasitism. The majority of clients however, still regarded the main reason for keeping dogs as the provision of some form of security. It also appeared as if improved attitudes towards household pets paralleled improvements in socio-economic status.
一家主要服务于发展中社区的大学附属医院很快意识到，其客户的社会和文化背景与专业医护人员截然不同，而且发达社区和发展中社区及其宠物的健康状况呈现出不同模式，大多数疾病主要与社会经济困境有关。人们认识到需要提供以社区为导向的服务。1987年至1988年期间，小动物门诊被用于对客户及其宠物进行基于非正式、无组织的社会学观察和访谈的研究。在此期间，实施了一项非正式教育计划，教授基本的宠物保健知识，并通过比较首次就诊客户和常客的知识与态度，凭经验评估该计划的效果。常客似乎越来越关注其宠物的健康和管理，其宠物的状况似乎有所改善，寄生虫感染程度相应下降。然而，大多数客户仍然认为养狗的主要原因是提供某种形式的安全保障。似乎对家庭宠物态度的改善也与社会经济地位的提高同步。
