Veterinary Students' Perspectives on Their Relationship with Animals Used in Veterinary Education

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Education
• Animal Welfare Ethics
• Student Well-being

Background:

• Live animals are utilized in veterinary education for clinical skills development.
• Limited understanding exists regarding veterinary students' perspectives on using animals in their training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how the quality of life of teaching animals influences veterinary students' learning and emotional state.
• To investigate the reciprocal relationship between student emotional well-being and the care provided to teaching animals.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative approach utilizing 10 focus groups and 2 interviews with 43 fourth-year veterinary students.
• Inductive thematic analysis of collected data to identify key themes.

Main Results:

• Ethical and moral conflicts arose from using animals, negatively impacting student emotional well-being, particularly with lack of transparency or unbalanced harm/benefit.
• Student well-being and animal welfare were found to be interconnected, highlighting the impact of educational practices on both.
• Supervisors' approaches and the use of live animals versus alternatives significantly influenced student learning experiences.

Conclusions:

• Veterinary students hold nuanced views on the use of animals in their education.
• Veterinary colleges should reassess the use of institution-owned live animals, enhance transparency, and adopt pedagogical methods prioritizing both student well-being and animal welfare.