By Dr. Quinn Rausch
Access to animal healthcare within communities underserved by veterinary medicine is hindered by many inter-related barriers. Wide-ranging negative impacts on animal welfare result from lack of access to animal healthcare including untreated illness, injury, or unmet needs. To date, most knowledge on animal healthcare access originates outside of Canada and there is a growing need to better understand how service-providing organizations are serving underserved communities. This study explored Canadian access to animal healthcare and organizational interventions through web data mining (N=504) and a cross-sectional survey (N=96). The data collected focused on (1) the types of services offered and where, (2) how barriers are being mitigated, and (3) measures of program impact, to understand Canadian-specific gaps in service provision and measures of intervention impacts on access to care.
Survey results indicate significant geographic gaps in veterinary service coverage with most organizations providing services in southern Ontario (45%), British Columbia (16%), Alberta (14%), and Quebec (12%) leaving large areas of central and northern Canada with minimal access. Organizations use various tools to mitigate financial (93%), geographic (92%), cultural (61%) and disability related (61%) barriers to accessing care but rarely had a significant overlap between all categories. This indicates in areas where multiple barriers intersect, veterinary care deserts still exist. Survey participants were primarily nonprofit organizations (52%) and for-profit clinics (38%) indicating there is room for collaboration to maximize resource utility. Qualitative analysis revealed that organizations find metrics for program impact difficult and primarily focus on input and effort measurements rather than health outcomes and community engagement. Varying levels of community partnership indicate the need for an evaluation tool to assist organizations in measuring the impact of community engagement and intervention effectiveness.
This research sets the groundwork for evidence-based solutions to addressing animal care service gaps through intervention evaluation and community partnership.
