Browsing by Author "Neary, Jessica M."

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    Public and industry knowledge and perceptions of US swine industry castration practices
    Neary, Jessica M.; Guthrie, Adeline P.; Jacobs, Leonie (Cambridge University Press, 2023-12-22)
    In the United States (US), surgical castration of male piglets is typically performed without any form of analgesia. This may raise concerns with the public; however, there is no information regarding current public knowledge on swine industry practices in the US. In this study we gained insight into public knowledge and perception on castration with and without analgesia in comparison to knowledge of industry stakeholders on these same topics. Through an online survey, 119 respondents were asked four questions about castration in the US swine industry. Industry respondents were contacted via social media and networking. The general public sample was accessed through Mechanical Turk. Survey responses were categorised by experience (industry vs public). Industry respondents were more aware of practices compared to the general public. Most public respondents were unaware of castration practices and the lack of analgesia use. Respondents from rural communities were more aware of castration practices than (sub)urban communities and more aware of analgesia use than those from urban communities. Those with more education had greater awareness of castration practices (occurrence not frequency). Based on the results from this first US sample, knowledge on industry practices was especially lacking for public respondents, but also for a minority of industry respondents, indicating opportunities for education and further research on the topic.
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    Recognizing Post-Castration Pain in Piglets: A Survey of Swine Industry Stakeholders and the General Public
    Neary, Jessica M.; Porter, Nathaniel D.; Viscardi, Abbie V.; Jacobs, Leonie (Frontiers, 2022-07-22)
    We need validated, practical methods for pain assessment in piglets. Pain assessment can help researchers, veterinarians and industry professionals identify the need for analgesia or other pain management approaches when applying painful procedures, such as surgical castration. A pain assessment tool, the Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS), was previously validated in this context, but it is not widely applied. It is important that the PGS can be applied by a range of people, not just pain assessment experts. Our objective was to study the validity and reliability of PGS ratings applied by swine industry professionals and the general public, to assess its potential utility in non-research applications. To do so, we conducted an online Qualtrics survey in which, after completing a brief online training module and a practice test, 119 respondents were asked to rate 9 piglet images showing facial expressions immediately after surgical castration or sham-handling. Respondents were provided information on the castration treatment for each image and had continuous access to the scale throughout the survey. The survey also contained demographic questions. Industry respondents were recruited through networking, and participants from the general public were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Four trained experts scored each image, and these scores were averaged to produce gold standard scores. Intraclass correlations indicated strong internal consistency among experts, industry and public. ANOVA demonstrated scoring to be moderately comparable between groups. Campbell and Fiske’s Multi-Trait Multi-Method framework provided qualified support for the internal validity and reliability of the PGS scale, even applied by non-experts (industry and public). Both response groups were able to recognize pain in castrated piglets. However, public respondents attributed higher levels of pain to sham-handled piglets than industry respondents (2.83 vs. 2.35; p=0.047), and both response groups systematically overestimated pain experience compared to the experts, suggesting more training may be necessary before using the scale in a diagnostic capacity. Nevertheless, overall findings support wide applicability of PGS, even with minimal training, to improve awareness, recognition and monitoring of swine pain among veterinarians, industry professionals and even members of the public.