Preliminary evidence supporting the use of equine science podcasts to bridge the gap between scientists and horse enthusiasts to improve horse welfare

Abstract

Podcasts have become a popular digital forum for discussing scientific information with peers, as well as with the non-scientific communityu, often referred to ‘edutainment’. It is unclear how science-based podcasts can support the veterinary industry through, for example, supporting good husbandry practices. Objectives: To understand the influence of ‘edutatinment’ on equine owners’ husbandry decisions. Study Design: The sample population were listeners of the Conversations in Equine Science (CES) podcast recruited to complete an online suvery via a link promoted by the CES hosts. The survey contained Likert-like questions assessing how listeners rated the importance of different forms of evidence when making husbandry decisions and questions relating to husbandry decisions made. Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to analyse the data. The Likert package for R was used to explore importance ratings. Free text questions were analysed via a content analysis with a constructionist epistemological position. Results The experience of veterinarians and scientific evidence were considered the most important forms of evidence that owners used when making decisions about their horse’s management (93% agreed and 91% agreed they were important respectively). Additionally, 74% of respondents had made a change to the management or training prin- ciples prompted by an episode of CES, suggesting edutainment can be a prompt to man- agement change. Of these, the majority (55%) had done so based on a joint discussion of the podcast and their own reading of the evidence. Main limitations: This was an opportunistic sample of those already invested in the edutainment format and may not represent those owners with no interest in scientific evidence. Conclusions: Podcasts are an easy-access, low-cost medium to convey research and cur- rent trends in the equine/equitation science genre. They may be a valuable tool for the veterinary industry to employ to support horse welfare.

Link

You can find the paper open-access in Equine Veterinary Education here

Behind the Paper

Back in early 2021, when I was looking towards what seemed like it would be another academic year of hybrid learning, I received an email from Nancy and Kate. They were former students from our Equine Science MSc and since graduating, they had started a podcast: Conversations in Equine Science. Each week, they discuss a paper from the world of Equitation Science, and talk about the implications for the horse world.

Nancy and Kate were submitting an abstract for a conference exploring the impact of their podcast for increasing horse owners’ awareness and understanding of equine science. They wondered if I had any thoughts, or if I would like to be involved.

This is the kind of question I love - my favourite thing to do is wax lyrical about my opinions on research, and I really looked forward to my chats with the pair while I was staring blankly down the barrel of another year of pivoted learning.

We soon decided that we had an opportunity to do a larger study, and with my impending maternity leave, we designed a study to explore how the Conversations in Equine Science podcast influences its listeners when they are making horse husbandry decisions.

The more I get into human behaviour change the more interested I am in the social component of behaviours. I’m curious about how modelling pro-evidence based behaviours can support people to make decisions, particularly in an animal welfare context where things can get very complicated. We’ve seen in our MOOC work that the almost parasocial nature of the online teacher-student interaction seems to be an important motivator in how people choose to access this information.

With this paper, I was keen that Kate and Nancy try to go beyond the simple knowledge and attitudes model (see my recent criticisms of this) and start asking about what changes people make. The challenge with survey work is that this is so reliant on peoples’ self reports, and there’s no way of knowing what they were doing differently. Still, I found the results of this survey encouraging. While this is definitely a self-selecting sample, there is evidence that we have a group of equine owners who are keenly interested in finding best evidence for husbandry practice.

I am absolutely delighted for Nancy and Kate that they have this paper published, and really chuffed that I was able to help out. I think its a testament to their dedication and hard work that they have been able to get this work out there, and that their podcast is still going strong. Obviously, we have excellent students at Edinburgh, and I’m delighted that Nancy and Kate wanted to come back to work with us again. Lifelong learning!

Side Note: Equine Veterinary Education

As an aside, I just want to highlight how wonderful Equine Veterinary Education was to deal with. The editor was prompt and considerate, and the reviewer comments were exceptionally constructive and supportive. I don’t do huge amounts of equine work, but I would publish with these guys again without hesitation.