Assessment of Farmers' Acceptance of Veterinarians as Human Health Advocates

The project goal was to collaborate with veterinarians in delivering skin cancer information to a farming population. Two interventions and a control were utilized: in nine Wisconsin counties veterinarians delivered education materials as part of routine dairy herd health visits, veterinarians in nine additional counties provided client lists so education materials could be mailed, and veterinarians in nine control counties provided client lists but farmers received no education materials. A questionnaire was administered by phone to a random sample of farmers in each group, assessing knowledge, sun protection attitudes and behaviors, acceptance of veterinarians in a human health education role. Farmers responded quite favorably to veterinarians in this role. Veterinarians can be regarded as useful agents to disseminate health information to isolated rural populations.