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. 2022 Dec 15:9:1017452.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.1017452. eCollection 2022.

Willingness to adopt personal biosecurity strategies on thoroughbred breeding farms: Findings from a multi-site pilot study in Australia's Hunter Valley

Kirrilly Thompson  1   2 , Joanne Taylor  1   2 , Diana Mendez  3 , Catherine Chicken  4 , Joan Carrick  5 , David N Durrheim  1   2
Affiliations

Willingness to adopt personal biosecurity strategies on thoroughbred breeding farms: Findings from a multi-site pilot study in Australia's Hunter Valley

Kirrilly Thompson et al. Front Vet Sci. .

Abstract

There are almost 9,500 full-time employees in Australia's thoroughbred horse breeding industry. During foaling, they can be exposed to bodily fluids and mucous membranes which may present risks for zoonotic disease. These risks can be mitigated through personal biosecurity strategies. The aim of this study was to identify which personal biosecurity strategies were more or less likely to be adopted by workers. Seventeen participants representing 14 thoroughbred breeding farms and three equine veterinary practices in Australia's largest thoroughbred breeding region trialed up to 16 stakeholder-nominated personal biosecurity strategies over the 2021 foaling season. The strategies encompassed personal protective equipment (PPE), zoonotic disease awareness, policies and protocols, supportive environments, and leadership. Strategy adoption was monitored through three repeated self-audit surveys designed around the Transtheoretical Model of change (TTM) and findings were reviewed in exit interviews. For all survey waves in aggregate, 13 strategies were practiced by at least 50.0% of participants. Participants were most likely to use a ready-made foaling box (98.0%), communicate the message that PPE usage is a personal responsibility (94.1%) and use ready-made PPE kits (88.2%). However, 31.4% had no intention of doing practice sessions and/or dummy runs for PPE use and 27.5% had no intention of using a buddy system on farm/practice to check use of PPE. Whilst these rates indicate workers' willingness to adopt and maintain personal biosecurity strategies, they also indicate capacity for more practices to be implemented more often. Overall, the findings highlight the need for personal biosecurity interventions to be sensitive to the demands of the annual thoroughbred breeding calendar, the size of the breeding operation and the availability of skilled staff.

Keywords: Transtheoretical; behavior change; biosecurity; equine; infection control; personal biosecurity; thoroughbred; zoonotic disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author JC is the owner-operator of Equine Specialist Consulting. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The percentage of participants at different stages of strategy adoption, disaggregated across three self-audit survey waves.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The percentage of participants at different stages of strategy adoption with all three waves aggregated.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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