Development and initial validation of the Animal Welfare Cultural Competence Inventory (AWCCI) to assess cultural competence in animal welfare

ABSTRACT

Cultural competence is recognized as critical to reducing disparities within human healthcare settings, but it is rarely incorporated into evaluations of companion animal services. We developed and validated an animal welfare-focused cultural competence instrument with client and provider versions. We then used the instrument to assess the relationship between animal welfare providers’ cultural competence and services provided to clients in historically underserved communities. 24 providers across 17 sites participated in the provider survey. 422 clients across those sites also participated and had their service utilization data analyzed. We found a significant correlation between the number of client-provider interactions and their level of agreement within the instrument’s “competence/confidence” subscale. We also found that these interactions had a significant correlation with veterinarian care and spay/neuter services. This study provides initial evidence that increasing the use of culturally competent engagement strategies has the potential to increase service utilization for pets in historically underserved communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural competence
• animal welfare
• veterinary care
• spay/neuter services
• access to care

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Cathy Durso for her statistical consultation and the Institute for Human-Animal Connection Graduate Research Assistants, Anabel Reynolds, Angela Darbyson, Ashley Catanyag, Jyoni Shuler, Kaylyn Radtke, Maria Garcia, and Mckayla Wood, who conducted the phone surveys for this study. We would also like to acknowledge Amanda Arrington, Ashley Anderson-Mutch, Rachel Thompson, Maria Saucedo, Aleah Simpson, and Gabrielle Chapman (formerly) of the Humane Society of the United States’ Pets for Life program for their thoughtful input on the development of the Animal Welfare Cultural Competence Inventory (AWCCI) instrument.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Jaci Gandenberger’s Research Fellow position is funded through a grant provided by an anonymous donor to the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. Sloane M. Hawes and Kevin N. Morris’s positions are partially funded by the latter’s American Humane Endowed Chair research fund.