Socio-psychological veterinary epidemiology. A new discipline for and old problem

Socio-psychological veterinary epidemiology is the study of human behaviour that affects the causes, spread, prevention and control of animal diseases and health problems. This paper reviews the existing literature with two purposes: (1) to draw conclusions and implications for farmers, veterinarians, veterinary and epidemiological researchers, extension agents and policy makers and (2) conduct a methodological review and provide recommendations for future studies. In total, we reviewed 64 articles and found that most of the studies are dealing with health management of dairy cows and have been conducted in Europe. The role of the veterinarian, the effect of knowledge, social influences of the farmer and the effect of epidemic and endemic diseases on farmer’s behaviour were often object of study. There was an absence of any clear universally significant factors affecting animal health behaviour but we could identify some recommendations and solutions