Knowledge and skills relating to animal behaviour are acknowledged as essential prerequisites to the development of professional veterinary nursing competences (ACOVENE, 2012), because these are fundamental to many of the day-to-day responsibilities of the veterinary nurse. Therefore, it is unsurprising that many modern veterinary nursing programmes provide education in this discipline. Animal communication often forms part of this education. Communication encompasses body language and behavioural signals as, in many cases, it is easier for humans to interpret body language and behavioural signals than vocalisations or olfactory signals (Houpt, 2018).
In the past, the focus was on aggression, fear or stress behaviours, as these dominated the academic literature. However, in recent years, a broader scope of animal emotions and their behavioural signals have received attention in animal welfare science (Green and Mellor, 2011), and research into animal emotions is growing. This is a welcome development, as additional research can guide teaching. The ability to interpret animal emotions is a useful skill for veterinary nursing practice. Emotions reflect animals' perception of their environment (Désiré et al, 2002) and can provide a unique insight into their lived experience.
An advantage of assessing emotions, as opposed to stress alone, is the ability to differentiate positive and negative moods and determine motivation (Ellis, 2018). This may help the veterinary nurse to better understand patients and be more responsive to their needs. In this way, an emotions assessment complements general patient monitoring, the use of nursing care plans and pain scoring. Understanding emotion and motivation is also important for advising clients on training techniques or problem behaviours in their pets (Heath, 2018). In addition, as emotions drive action, they may be used to predict an animal's future behaviour (Levine, 2008). Therefore, knowledge of a patient's emotional state can guide human–animal interactions and promote handler safety. This is particularly important for veterinary nursing as it involves so much ‘hands-on’ contact with animals.
It is necessary to teach the skill of identifying animal emotions, as it cannot be assumed that this is innate to humans. Research found that the likelihood of correctly identifying fear in dogs (in video clips) was lowest in those who had never owned dogs (Wan et al, 2012). Dog ownership and especially professional canine experience increased the likelihood of success (Wan et al, 2012). However, pet ownership alone may not enable students to accurately identify animal emotions in all contexts. Demirbas et al, (2016) found that dog owners were actually less successful in identifying canine fear in video clips of child–dog interactions than non-dog owners (they noted the behavioural signals of fear but overlooked their significance). Similarly, Dawson et al (2019) found that even cat ownership did not confer an advantage in accurately categorising feline emotions (in video clips) as positive or negative. Only professional feline experience improved performance (Dawson et al, 2019). Therefore, it is necessary to educate veterinary nursing students on how to interpret animal emotions in the classroom and during clinical placements.
Authentic learning strategy for the classroom
The aim of teaching animal emotions is to enable students to interpret an animal's emotional state in real-life or ‘authentic’ contexts. The most authentic situation is the veterinary practice environment. However, this is a complex environment, and students first need to be supported in developing their skills in the classroom. The ‘authentic learning framework’ by Herrington and Oliver (2000) (Table 1) may be used to structure classroom teaching. The most authentic classroom teaching approach would involve live animals. However, this creates ethical and logistical issues. Instead, images and recordings or videos of animals may be used, because a multimedia environment is also considered authentic (Herrington and Oliver, 2000).
Table 1. Authentic learning strategy for classroom-based teaching on animal emotions
| Authentic learning principle | Suggested application in animal emotions teaching |
|---|---|
| Authentic context | Images/films simulating live animals |
| Scaffolding | Lectures/resources on animal emotions and their behavioural signals |
| Access to expert performance and modelling | Lecturer articulating his/her process of identifying behavioural signals and interpreting animal emotions |
| Authentic activity | Identifying/describing behavioural signals and interpreting animal emotional state |
| Articulation, reflection and collaboration | Whole group/small group discussion, online discussion board, group presentations |
| Coaching | Feedback from lecturer on latter (strengths, errors and misunderstandings) |
| Authentic assessment | Identify behavioural signals and interpret emotional state in images/films of animals (such as in a quiz or exam) |
Many photographs of animals are freely available online under Creative Commons licenses and films of animals are readily available from YouTube. Canine images (Tami and Gallagher, 2009) and videos (Wan et al, 2012; Demirbas et al, 2016) and feline videos (Dawson et al, 2019) have already been used in research into human interpretation of animal behaviour. YouTube videos have previously been used as part of practical skills teaching for veterinary medicine students (Müller et al, 2019).
To provide the ‘scaffolding’ for interpreting animal emotions, students should be provided with current information on animal emotions, including their definitions and their behavioural signals (described and illustrated using images and films). The process or steps involved in interpreting animal emotions should be explained, such as:
- Assessing the context
- Systematically looking at the face, head, neck, body, tail and limbs
- Considering all behavioural signals together
- Making an evaluation.
This teaching can be delivered through lectures and/or by providing document(s) to be read. Once students have received basic teaching on animal emotions, the lecturer could model and articulate their own process of interpreting animal emotions, hence providing access to ‘expert performances’ and ‘modelling’ (Herrington and Oliver, 2000).
Subsequently, ‘authentic activities’ could be designed to enable students to apply their knowledge and eventually evaluate animal emotions. Suitable activities may include quizzes, discussions, or presentations on identifying behavioural signals and/or interpreting animal emotions in images/films. Students should be encouraged to reflect on their knowledge, draw on their experience, and articulate their observations and interpretations (Herrington and Oliver, 2000). The students' lecturer(s) can guide the discussion (‘coaching’) and address any misunderstandings or errors that occur (Herrington and Oliver, 2000) (Table 1). Discussions and group projects also facilitate exposure to multiple and different perspectives and provide an opportunity for ‘collaborative construction of knowledge’ (Herrington and Oliver, 2000) (Table 1). Finally, ‘authentic assessment’ should be used to measure student success (Herrington and Oliver, 2000) (Table 1). This would require students to describe the behavioural signals shown in images and films of animal emotions and/or interpret the emotional state of the animals depicted.
Authentic learning strategy for clinical placements
Once classroom teaching is complete, the students' learning must be reinforced and further developed within clinical placements. Herrington and Oliver's authentic learning principles could also guide teaching in this context (Table 2). To ‘scaffold’ learning, the placement supervisor should begin by gently questioning the student to allow them to articulate and activate their knowledge. Questioning on the emotions that are valid in animals and how each emotion can be recognised would be appropriate.
Table 2. Authentic learning strategy for placement-based teaching on animal emotions
| Authentic learning principle | Suggested application for teaching within clinical placements |
|---|---|
| Authentic context | Veterinary practice |
| Scaffolding | Progress from questioning on animal emotions through supervised emotion interpretation activities to independent tasks, such as an emotion audits of patients in the waiting room |
| Access to expert performance and modelling | Qualified veterinary nurse articulating his/her process of identifying behavioural signals and interpreting animal emotions in live animals |
| Authentic activity | Identifying and describing behavioural signals and interpreting animal emotional state in live veterinary patients |
| Articulation, reflection and collaboration | Discussion with the veterinary nurse and other members of the veterinary team. Reflection on emotional signalling observed during consultations and procedures, the actions taken by the veterinary team and the outcomes |
| Coaching | Feedback from the qualified veterinary nurse on the activities set |
| Authentic assessment | Tasks in journal on practical/clinical skills.Emotions audit/case study |
Next, the placement supervisor or other veterinary staff could model their own process of identifying emotions in animals and explain it to the student (this refers to ‘access to expert performances’ and ‘modelling’; Herrington and Oliver, 2000). Following this, supervised ‘authentic activities’ can be provided (Herrington and Oliver, 2000). This could involve asking students to observe a patient, describe the behavioural signals of emotion that are being demonstrated and/or interpret the animal's emotional state. The supervisor will then be in a position to coach the student by providing feedback and further explanation as needed.
Finally, some independent tasks could be set. For example, the student could be tasked with observing a veterinary or veterinary nursing consultation (focusing on the emotional signalling of the patient), reflecting, then reporting back on the emotions observed, how staff responded to these, and the difference that this made to the animal patient's behaviour. Another suitable activity would be an emotions audit or report on the animals in the veterinary hospital or waiting room. These activities may also benefit animal welfare if actions are taken as a result of the student's report. Discussing activities with practice staff members would expose the student to multiple perspectives and enable the ‘collaborative construction of knowledge’ (Herrington and Oliver, 2000).
When supervising veterinary staff are unavailable the student could be asked to source images or YouTube videos of animals depicting good examples of various emotional states. Placement-based (authentic) assessments are usually set by the student's educational institution. Assessment may involve signing-off tasks in a journal of practical and/or clinical skills. For animal emotions, tasks may include: successfully identifying the predominant emotional state in a (canine, feline, equine, bovine or ovine) patient or successfully identifying mixed emotions signalled by a (canine, feline, equine, bovine or ovine) patient. Alternatively, an assignment such as a report (emotions audit), essay or presentation could be set. It is important to note that if students wish to use images of patients in their assignments, they should be advised to first seek informed consent from practice management and the clients or owners of any animals involved.
Qualified veterinary nurses
As the area of animal emotions is relatively new, some qualified veterinary nurses or placement supervisors may not have received formal education on this topic. Experience in veterinary practice can be helpful for identifying animal emotions, but it is not sufficient to guide teaching on its own. Experience may cause complacency and a tendency to underestimate the significance of behavioural signals, as reported in dog owners by Demirbas et al (2016). How can qualified veterinary nurses gain theoretical knowledge on identifying animal emotions to blend with and enhance their existing experience? First, they could learn alongside their placement students. This could be accomplished by asking the students to share their resources on the topic and discussing these together.
Professional conferences and events, particularly those run by reliable animal behaviour interest groups (such as the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare) and events run by the British Veterinary Behaviour Association (BVBA) or the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC) may also be a valuable source of information. In addition, charitable organisations, such as the Dogs Trust UK and International Cat Care, feature useful information on communication signals on their websites. Otherwise, useful information is also provided in the second article of this series. In addition, it may be necessary to directly access and read the academic literature.
The field of animal behaviour is multidisciplinary. Therefore, it is not recommended to use only medical or veterinary databases (such as Medline by PubMed, or CAB Abstracts or VetMed Resource by CABI) in a search strategy. It may be more effective to use Google Scholar for a broad search, or also include databases such as Scopus by Elsevier, Ingenta Connect and/or Wiley Online Library. Key animal behaviour journals that may feature relevant articles include Animals, Animal Welfare, Anthrozoös, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, and Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Journal articles are not always free to read in full (open access). However, practices may have subscriptions to some journals. Access to a wide range of journals is available through Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) library membership.
Gaining education in identifying animal emotions requires a significant investment of time but will count towards veterinary nurses' annual continuing veterinary education requirements.
Conclusions
Accurately interpreting animal emotions may positively affect patient welfare and veterinary nurse safety. However, this skill is not a natural ability and must be learnt. The teaching of animal emotions should begin in the classroom and continue during clinical placements. Both contexts can use the authentic learning framework to guide teaching. This involves providing or reactivating underlying knowledge (scaffolding), modelling the process of interpreting animal emotions, providing authentic activities, facilitating discussion, and setting linked authentic assessment.
Qualified veterinary nurses can access their students' learning materials, the websites of reputable animal charities and relevant journal articles, and/or attend animal behaviour conferences for professional development in the field. Part two of this article will describe the specific design and outcomes of classroom-based teaching on animal emotions and the insights gained into student learning.
KEY POINTS
- An accurate assessment of animal emotions is beneficial to both patients and veterinary nurses.
- The ability of humans to interpret animal emotions is not inherent and must be learnt.
- Herrington and Oliver's authentic learning framework can be used to structure teaching and support student learning, both in the classroom and within clinical placements.
- Teaching should involve an authentic context (images and films or observation of live animals), and provide underlying knowledge (scaffolding), modelling of the skill, authentic activities, reflection and discussion, and authentic assessment.
- Qualified veterinary nurses can learn alongside their students, attend animal behaviour conferences, and/or access reliable information from reputable animal charities and peer-reviewed journal articles.