Are images worth a thousand words? A preliminary study testing a video for owner education in canine atopic dermatitis.

Background: Successful management of canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is challenging and effective pet owner education is crucial to successful outcomes. However, there are limited proven educational strategies in this area. Our goal was to create an effective and engaging educational tool for owners of dogs with cAD.

Hypothesis: Video-based education efficacy would be comparable to traditional verbal delivery. Secondary objectives included assessing client perception of the intervention, and determining if there were clinical benefits for the dogs and improved client adherence to treatment.

Subjects: Twenty-nine dogs with cAD and their owners were recruited from a teaching hospital of a European veterinary medicine faculty.

Materials and methods: In this 8 week, prospective, randomised controlled study, clients in the control group (CG, n = 13) received verbal education and those in the intervention group (IG, n = 16) watched a video. Client knowledge was assessed at Day (D)0 and D56. Treatment adherence and perceived utility and appeal ratings were measured at D56. Clinical progress was assessed at D0 and D56 using CADESI-04 and PVAS10.

Results: The differences found in the means of cAD knowledge score, clinical outcomes, utility and appeal ratings and owners' adherence score between groups were not statistically significant. A significant association between the outcome and the intervention group concerning education success [CG, six of 13 (46.15%); IG, 15 of 16 (93.75%)] was found (p = 0.01).

Conclusions and clinical relevance: Video-based instructions positively impacted owners' education and demonstrated their potential as a valuable tool. The authors believe that video-based education could be a time-efficient alternative for initial cAD education in veterinary clinics.