Influence of producers’ attitudes, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control for practicing prudent use of antimicrobials on New York dairy farms

Abstract

Targeted communication concerning the judicious use of antimicrobials is vital to address public health concerns such as residues and resistance. Understanding dairy farmers’ behavior, motivations, and barriers toward antimicrobial use can influence how veterinarians translate research into practice and guide effective ways of implementing protocols. A multidisciplinary team investigated behavioral tendencies toward antimicrobial use by administering a survey modeled with the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA). The RAA is a framework from social psychology containing the constructs attitude (A), perceived norms (PN), and perceived behavioral control (perception of the ease or difficulty of a behavior; PBC), and is used in combination with structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine what drives intentions (I). The objective of the survey was to provide direct and indirect measures of these constructs to determine importance of and associations with intention to use antimicrobials prudently.