Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea
ABSTRACT: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is endemic in the United Kingdom and causes major economic losses. Control is largely voluntary for individual farmers and is likely to be influenced by psychosocial factors, such as altruism, trust, and psychological proximity (feeling close) to relevant “other...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Dairy Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222000534 |
| _version_ | 1818233269152382976 |
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| author | N.S. Prosser M.J. Green E. Ferguson M.J. Tildesley E.M. Hill M.J. Keeling J. Kaler |
| author_facet | N.S. Prosser M.J. Green E. Ferguson M.J. Tildesley E.M. Hill M.J. Keeling J. Kaler |
| author_sort | N.S. Prosser |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is endemic in the United Kingdom and causes major economic losses. Control is largely voluntary for individual farmers and is likely to be influenced by psychosocial factors, such as altruism, trust, and psychological proximity (feeling close) to relevant “others,” such as farmers, veterinarians, the government, and their cows. These psychosocial factors (factors with both psychological and social aspects) are important determinants of how people make decisions related to their own health, many of which have not been studied in the context of infectious disease control by farmers. Farmer psychosocial profiles were investigated using multiple validated measures in an observational survey of 475 UK cattle farmers using the capability, opportunity, motivation-behavior (COM-B) framework. Farmers were clustered by their BVD control practices using latent class analysis. Farmers were split into 5 BVD control behavior classes, which were tested for associations with the psychosocial and COM-B factors using multinomial logistic regression, with doing nothing as the baseline class. Farmers who were controlling disease both for themselves and others were more likely to do something to control BVD (e.g., test, vaccinate). Farmers who did not trust other farmers, had high psychological capability (knowledge and understanding of how to control disease), and had high physical opportunity (time and money to control disease) were more likely to have a closed, separate herd and test. Farmers who did not trust other farmers were also more likely to undertake many prevention strategies with an open herd. Farmers with high automatic motivation (habits and emotions) and reflective motivation (decisions and goals) were more likely to vaccinate and test, alone or in combination with other controls. Farmers with high psychological proximity (feeling of closeness) to their veterinarian were more likely to undertake many prevention strategies in an open herd. Farmers with high psychological proximity to dairy farmers and low psychological proximity to beef farmers were more likely to keep their herd closed and separate and test or vaccinate and test. Farmers who had a lot of trust in other farmers and invested in them, rather than keeping everything for themselves, were more likely to be careful introducing new stock and test. In conclusion, farmer psychosocial factors were associated with strategies for BVD control in UK cattle farmers. Psychological proximity to veterinarians was a novel factor associated with proactive BVD control and was more important than the more extensively investigated trust. These findings highlight the importance of a close veterinarian-farmer relationship and are important for promoting effective BVD control by farmers, which has implications for successful nationwide BVD control and eradication schemes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T11:19:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3daf52f9160545648261700bcbff0e8f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0022-0302 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T11:19:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Dairy Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-3daf52f9160545648261700bcbff0e8f2022-12-22T00:26:03ZengElsevierJournal of Dairy Science0022-03022022-04-01105435593573Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrheaN.S. Prosser0M.J. Green1E. Ferguson2M.J. Tildesley3E.M. Hill4M.J. Keeling5J. Kaler6School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, United Kingdom; Corresponding authorSchool of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, United KingdomSchool of Psychology, University Park, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United KingdomZeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research, School of Life Sciences and Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; Joint UNIversities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER; https://maths.org/juniper/)Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research, School of Life Sciences and Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; Joint UNIversities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER; https://maths.org/juniper/)Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research, School of Life Sciences and Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; Joint UNIversities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER; https://maths.org/juniper/)School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, United KingdomABSTRACT: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is endemic in the United Kingdom and causes major economic losses. Control is largely voluntary for individual farmers and is likely to be influenced by psychosocial factors, such as altruism, trust, and psychological proximity (feeling close) to relevant “others,” such as farmers, veterinarians, the government, and their cows. These psychosocial factors (factors with both psychological and social aspects) are important determinants of how people make decisions related to their own health, many of which have not been studied in the context of infectious disease control by farmers. Farmer psychosocial profiles were investigated using multiple validated measures in an observational survey of 475 UK cattle farmers using the capability, opportunity, motivation-behavior (COM-B) framework. Farmers were clustered by their BVD control practices using latent class analysis. Farmers were split into 5 BVD control behavior classes, which were tested for associations with the psychosocial and COM-B factors using multinomial logistic regression, with doing nothing as the baseline class. Farmers who were controlling disease both for themselves and others were more likely to do something to control BVD (e.g., test, vaccinate). Farmers who did not trust other farmers, had high psychological capability (knowledge and understanding of how to control disease), and had high physical opportunity (time and money to control disease) were more likely to have a closed, separate herd and test. Farmers who did not trust other farmers were also more likely to undertake many prevention strategies with an open herd. Farmers with high automatic motivation (habits and emotions) and reflective motivation (decisions and goals) were more likely to vaccinate and test, alone or in combination with other controls. Farmers with high psychological proximity (feeling of closeness) to their veterinarian were more likely to undertake many prevention strategies in an open herd. Farmers with high psychological proximity to dairy farmers and low psychological proximity to beef farmers were more likely to keep their herd closed and separate and test or vaccinate and test. Farmers who had a lot of trust in other farmers and invested in them, rather than keeping everything for themselves, were more likely to be careful introducing new stock and test. In conclusion, farmer psychosocial factors were associated with strategies for BVD control in UK cattle farmers. Psychological proximity to veterinarians was a novel factor associated with proactive BVD control and was more important than the more extensively investigated trust. These findings highlight the importance of a close veterinarian-farmer relationship and are important for promoting effective BVD control by farmers, which has implications for successful nationwide BVD control and eradication schemes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222000534bovine viral diarrheaCOM-Bfarmer behaviorpsychological proximitypsychosocial profiling |
| spellingShingle | N.S. Prosser M.J. Green E. Ferguson M.J. Tildesley E.M. Hill M.J. Keeling J. Kaler Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea Journal of Dairy Science bovine viral diarrhea COM-B farmer behavior psychological proximity psychosocial profiling |
| title | Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea |
| title_full | Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea |
| title_fullStr | Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea |
| title_short | Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea |
| title_sort | cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea |
| topic | bovine viral diarrhea COM-B farmer behavior psychological proximity psychosocial profiling |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222000534 |
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