Long-term effects of motivational interviewing vs. traditional counseling on dog owners' adherence to veterinary dental home care: a three-year follow-up study

Karolina Brunius Enlund; Birgitta Jönsson; Kajsa H Abrahamsson; Ann Pettersson

doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1296618

Long-term effects of motivational interviewing vs. traditional counseling on dog owners' adherence to veterinary dental home care: a three-year follow-up study

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Feb 26:11:1296618. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1296618. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Karolina Brunius Enlund¹, Birgitta Jönsson^{2

3}, Kajsa H Abrahamsson², Ann Pettersson¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
² Department of Periodontology, Institute of Odontology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
³ The Public Dental Health Service Competence Centre of Northern Norway, Tromsø, Norway.

Abstract

Introduction: Periodontal disease is one of the most common health issues in dogs. However, disease is largely preventable by eliminating dental plaque, best achieved by daily tooth brushing. Unfortunately, owner adherence is low to the recommendation of daily tooth brushing in dogs.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of various communication strategies, traditional advice (TA) versus motivational interviewing (MI), and compare them to a control group receiving no additional communication (CG), on dog owners' performance of dental home care and the oral health of their dogs.

Methods: The study was conducted as a longitudinal clinical intervention study spanning 3 years, and involved 75 dog owners with young dogs who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: TA, MI, or CG. Intervention groups received annual telephone consultations based on their assigned methodology. A questionnaire was administered twice to all groups, and the dental health of the dogs was assessed at the study's conclusion.

Result: Tooth brushing frequency demonstrated a significant increase in the MI group compared to the CG group (p < 0.01), albeit with a relatively low occurrence of daily brushing among owners. Dental health assessment revealed a significantly lower plaque index in the MI group compared to the CG group (p < 0.05), and a lower calculus index in the TA group compared to the CG group (p < 0.01). No statistically significant differences were observed between the MI and TA groups in terms of dental health.

Conclusion: Regular veterinary communication appears to have a positive influence on dog owner adherence to veterinary recommendations concerning dental care in dogs. Communication with veterinarians (MI and traditional advice) improved owner knowledge, attitude, and decreased frequency of not brushing. Although dental health parameters improved, the effect size was small, suggesting the complexity of adherence. Personalized calls to dog owners offer potential for dental health improvement, warranting further comparison of MI with traditional advice.

Keywords: compliance; dental care; dental health; dog; tooth brushing; veterinary communication; veterinary dentistry.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The Greater Stockholm Veterinary Hospital Foundation (major contributor) (Recipient AP) and the Agria och SKK Forskningsfond (Recipient AP). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.