Measuring the Attitudes of Animal Hospital Staff Toward Animals in Türkiye

This study examined general attitudes toward animals among staff working in licensed animal hospitals in Türkiye. Using the 10-item Animal Attitude Scale (AAS-10), an online survey was administered to animal hospital staff; 193 questionnaires were completed from 17 provinces. Because total scores deviated from normality, group comparisons were conducted using non-parametric tests, and a multiple linear regression model was fitted to examine joint associations with demographic and professional variables. Overall, participants reported generally positive attitudes (mean AAS-10 = 36.7 ± 5.85; range 10-50). Women scored higher than men (p < 0.001), and respondents aged 20-29 years scored higher than those aged ≥40 years (p = 0.029) in unadjusted comparisons; however, the age pattern was small and did not persist after adjustment for gender and other covariates. Professional variables, including occupational role and length of service, were not meaningfully associated with total scores. Exploratory item-level analyses suggested gender-related differences in acceptance of specific forms of animal use, but these should be interpreted cautiously given multiple comparisons. These findings provide a descriptive baseline of AAS-10 scores in a heterogeneous animal hospital workforce and support hypothesis generation for future research that incorporates practice-specific measures.