Noordin Norhidayah, Khor Kuan Hua, Khor Kuan Siew, Lim Yi Jun, Lee Yong Chong
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, City Campus Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Bharu 16100, Kelantan, Malaysia.
Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Apr 11;12(8):985. doi: 10.3390/ani12080985.
Canine heart disease often requires long-term treatment, which involves a continuous commitment from the dog owners. In addition to investigating their awareness and knowledge, the Theory of Planned Behavior was applied to also analyze attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) of the dog owners, with empathic concern as a moderator in predicting intention to treat canine heart disease. Through a convenience sampling approach, 261 respondents, who were clients of University Veterinary Hospital, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UVH-UPM), with experience in owning or caring for dogs, were recruited. While the majority of the respondents (83.5%) claimed that they were aware of canine heart disease, most respondents (45.6%) could only identify 5 to 8 (Fair) out of 12 of the salient clinical signs. Most dog owners (92.3%) were willing to seek treatment if the pet dogs were affected, although the intent is deterred by cost (39.5%). In this study, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were significant predictors for the intention to treat. Dog owners with low empathic concern can be motivated to treat affected dogs by cultivating perceived behavioral control. Therefore, continual education may improve dog owners' preconceived ability to provide care, and veterinarians may play an important role to encourage treatment in dogs diagnosed with heart disease.
犬类心脏病通常需要长期治疗，这需要犬主持续投入。除了调查他们的意识和知识外，还应用计划行为理论来分析犬主的态度、主观规范和感知行为控制（PBC），并将共情关注作为预测治疗犬类心脏病意图的调节变量。通过便利抽样法，招募了261名受访者，他们是马来西亚博特拉大学兽医医院（UVH-UPM）的客户，有养狗或照顾狗的经验。虽然大多数受访者（83.5%）声称他们了解犬类心脏病，但大多数受访者（45.6%）在12项主要临床症状中只能识别出5至8项（一般）。大多数犬主（92.3%）表示，如果宠物狗患病，他们愿意寻求治疗，尽管治疗意愿会受到费用（39.5%）的阻碍。在本研究中，态度、主观规范和感知行为控制是治疗意愿的重要预测因素。共情关注较低的犬主可以通过培养感知行为控制来激发他们治疗患病犬的积极性。因此，持续教育可能会提高犬主预先具备的护理能力，兽医在鼓励对被诊断患有心脏病的犬进行治疗方面可能发挥重要作用。
