Objective

To determine clients' preferences for veterinarians' communication during decision-making in relation to 3 clinical contexts: preventive care, general problem (eg, illness or injury), and urgent appointments.

Methods

A cross-sectional online questionnaire was distributed by use of snowball sampling to veterinary clients owning a pet. Demographic information was collected, and participants were then randomly assigned to a scenario reflecting one of the following clinical contexts (appointment types): preventive, general problem, or urgent. Discrete choice exercises were used to solicit client preferences for 5 aspects of veterinarians' communication approach to decision-making with clients in clinical contexts: amount of information, presentation of plan (options or a recommendation), communication of value, nature of client involvement, and communication of financial cost. Relative-preference scores were calculated using hierarchical bayesian modeling.

Results

Responses for 1,614 participants were included in the final analysis. The majority were female, lived in Canada, and were financially stable. Across clinical decision-making contexts, participants preferred to collaborate with the veterinarian, be offered options with a clear recommendation, be informed of present and future costs, and have benefits of any action regarding their pet's health explained to them. For the general-problem context, participants preferred veterinarians' communication to focus solely on concerns; in contrast, in preventive care and urgent contexts, participants preferred that communication include both normal findings and concerns.

Conclusions

Irrespective of clinical decision-making context, participants preferred collaborative decision-making with a veterinarian.

Clinical relevance

Veterinary professionals should consider, when possible, communication that supports a collaborative approach to decision-making with clients.