Implementing refinements: Attitudes, experiences, barriers, and solutions identified by laboratory animal...

Refinements to improve the lives of animals used in science are generally endorsed by research institutions and regulatory bodies, but laboratory animal professionals face many barriers in implementing refinements. We sought to understand 1) attitudes and perceptions of barriers and solutions, and 2) how implementation of refinement may be influenced by norms and perceived behavioural control. We conducted three focus groups with 32 attendees at a Canadian laboratory animal science symposium, using semi-structured, open-ended questions. Five themes emerged: evidence and impact on research outcomes, regulatory oversight, operational limitations, institutional culture, and responsibility. Each of these themes was seen as influencing individual capacity to implement refinements. Overall, participants expressed positive attitudes towards refinement combined with frustration due to their limited ability to enact change. Barriers included decision-makers being disconnected from animal facility operations, an institutional culture that does not adequately value refinement, lack of time and money, concerns about impacts on data, and resistance to change among colleagues and animal users. Regulations were seen as both a barrier (when decision-makers did not support refinements beyond minimally required practices) and a solution (when refinements were explicitly required). Potential solutions included updates to regulations, assessments from oversight bodies, integration of the 3Rs into funding and grant review processes, greater inclusion of laboratory animal professionals in decision-making, and promotion of refinements during personnel training. Cultivating an institutional culture that prioritises refinement and addressing barriers to the perceived behavioural control of laboratory animal professionals could help to increase refinement uptake.