School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, UK.
Vet Rec. 2021 Mar;188(6):e56. doi: 10.1002/vetr.56. Epub 2021 Jan 28.
This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate factors affecting horse owners' purchase and euthanasia decisions that had been identified in a qualitative study.
An online survey on horse owners' purchase and euthanasia decisions and experiences was distributed using snowball sampling. Inclusion criteria were previous experience of purchase or euthanasia decisions. Descriptive data analyses (mean, median, mode and frequency percentages) were performed.
There were 451 participants from the UK and Ireland, 97% were female with a median age of 45 years. Participants most frequently did not seek any advice when deciding what type of horse to purchase (38.6%, 169/438) or if it was priced appropriately (48.7%, 214/439). Most participants were satisfied with their purchase and would purchase their horse again (84.9%, 370/436). The most frequent reasons for euthanasia were injury/illness with low chance of survival (55.2%, 201/364), poor quality of life (42.6%, 155/363) and long-term injury (35.7%, 130/364). Most participants sought advice or guidance when making end-of-life decisions (87.5%, 328/375), and 55% (243/440) had a euthanasia plan in place.
Owners show limited advice-seeking behaviour on key aspects of purchase decisions. Owners frequently seek advice on euthanasia decisions, and the majority of decisions were based on welfare concerns.
本横断面研究旨在调查定性研究中确定的影响马主购买和安乐死决策的因素。
使用滚雪球抽样法，对马主购买和安乐死决策及经历进行了在线调查。纳入标准为有过购买或安乐死决策的经验。进行了描述性数据分析（均值、中位数、众数和频率百分比）。
来自英国和爱尔兰的 451 名参与者中，97%为女性，中位年龄为 45 岁。在决定购买哪种类型的马（38.6%，169/438）或价格是否合理（48.7%，214/439）时，大多数参与者没有寻求任何建议。大多数参与者对他们的购买感到满意，并会再次购买他们的马（84.9%，370/436）。安乐死的最常见原因是受伤/患病且存活机会低（55.2%，201/364）、生活质量差（42.6%，155/363）和长期受伤（35.7%，130/364）。大多数参与者在做出生命末期决策时会寻求建议或指导（87.5%，328/375），55%（243/440）制定了安乐死计划。
所有者在购买决策的关键方面表现出有限的寻求建议行为。所有者经常就安乐死决策寻求建议，并且大多数决策基于福利问题。
