Evaluating Veterinary Ethics Education Programs in South Korea from the Learners' Perspective

Ethical competence, the ability to recognize and respond to the ethical dimensions embedded in everyday decision making, is vital for veterinarians' professional integrity and to ensure the public's trust. This study investigated current veterinary ethics education in South Korea, focusing on curriculum quality and its perceived outcomes. An online survey was conducted with a total of 374 respondents, 192 veterinarians and 182 students (3.7% response rate), to assess their educational experience and self-assessed competencies in veterinary ethics. Although 60% of them had received ethics education, primarily through formal courses, over half of them reported dissatisfaction with instructor expertise and course effectiveness. Only 22% of those surveyed believed that ethics was integrated sufficiently into their curriculum. They expressed a lack of confidence in applying ethical tools and legal knowledge, highlighting the need for required courses, competent instructors, and the integration of ethics with related subjects such as animal welfare, bioethics, veterinary law, and professionalism. Despite these concerns, individuals who completed the ethics coursework reported significantly higher levels of self-assessed ethical competence compared to those who did not receive such training (3.31 vs. 2.96, p < .001), which underscores the necessity and effectiveness of integrating ethics education into veterinary curricula. These results demonstrate the significance of sustained efforts to strengthen ethics education across all stages of veterinary training.