Capturing the complexity of veterinarians' antibiotic prescribing practices in the livestock sector: A meta-ethnography across contexts

Abstract

Strategies and policies to tackle the global public health threat of antimicrobial resistance are increasingly addressing antimicrobial use prescribing practices in both the human and animal health sectors. Veterinarians' antibiotic prescribing practices are influenced by different factors and conditioned by the context within which antibiotic prescribing decisions are made, complexifying the implementation of behaviour change interventions. A better understanding of these factors could therefore help in the design and application of such interventions. Meta-ethnography was used to explore the antibiotic prescribing behaviour of veterinarians in different contexts and to construct a new conceptual framework. A search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection and SciELO Citation Index between 2016 and 2024. The final sample consisted of 29 articles, 27 of which were selected from the 561 articles identified in the search and 2 of which were added by the authors. The results were synthesized and presented through four contextual situations influencing antibiotic prescribing by livestock veterinarians: priorities and pressures, uncertain field conditions, systemic challenges and an enabling environment. The results are presented as a conceptual framework that views veterinarians' antibiotic prescribing behaviour as dynamic, adapting in response to the different contextual situations they encounter. The findings provide an integrated and contextualized understanding of veterinarians' antibiotic prescribing behaviours, which could be implemented to facilitate the development and application of future antimicrobial stewardship interventions.