Background: Euthanasia of pets has been described by veterinarians as ââ?¬Å?the best and the worstââ?¬Â of the profession.\nThe most commonly mentioned ethical dilemmas veterinarians face in small animal practice are: limited treatment\noptions due to financial constraints, euthanizing of healthy animals and owners wishing to continue treatment of\nterminally ill animals. The aim of the study was to gain insight into the attitudes of Austrian veterinarians towards\neuthanasia of small animals. This included assessing their agreement with euthanasia in exemplified case scenarios,\npotentially predicted by demographic variables (e.g. gender, age, working in small animal practice, employment,\nworking in a team, numbers of performed euthanasia). Further describing the veterinariansââ?¬â?¢ agreement with a\nnumber of different normative and descriptive statements, including coping strategies. A questionnaire with nine\neuthanasia scenarios, 26 normative and descriptive statements, and demographic data were sent to all members of\nthe Austrian Chamber of Veterinary Surgeons (n = 2478).\nResults: In total, 486 veterinarians answered sufficiently completely to enable analyses. Responses were first\nexplored descriptively before being formally analysed using linear regression and additive Bayesian networks ââ?¬â?? a\nmultivariate regression methodology ââ?¬â?? in order to identify joint relationships between the demographic variables,\nthe statements and each of the nine euthanasia scenarios. Mutual dependencies between the demographic\nvariables were found, i.e. female compared to male veterinarians worked mostly in small animal practice, and\nworking mostly in small animal practice was linked to performing more euthanasia per month.\nConclusions: Gender and age were found to be associated with views on euthanasia: female veterinarians and\nveterinarians having worked for less years were more likely to disagree with euthanasia in at least some of the\nconvenience euthanasia scenarios. The number of veterinarians working together was found to be the variable with\nthe highest number of links to other variables, demographic as well as ethical statements. This highlights the role\nof a team potentially providing support in stressful situations. The results are useful for a better understanding of\ncoping strategies for veterinarians with moral stress due to euthanasia of small animals.
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