Defining Health and Disease in Veterinary Textbooks
Author Information
Author(s): Gunnarsson Stefan
Primary Institution: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Hypothesis
How are the concepts of 'health' and 'disease' defined in veterinary textbooks?
Conclusion
Few veterinary textbooks had any health or disease definition at all, and explicit definitions seemed to have little impact on how health and disease are handled within the profession.
Supporting Evidence
- Only 8% of the textbooks examined had explicit definitions of health and/or disease.
- Textbooks written for non-veterinarians were more likely to contain definitions than those for professionals.
- Definitions of health were categorized into five different approaches.
Takeaway
Most veterinary books don't clearly explain what health and disease mean, which makes it hard for veterinarians to communicate about these important topics.
Methodology
The study examined veterinary textbooks at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences to find explicit definitions of health and disease.
Limitations
The study only included textbooks with explicit definitions and did not investigate implicit definitions.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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