Program outcomes of a voluntary Johne's Disease control program with a focus on adherence to management plan recommendations and veterinary communication skills

The Atlantic Johne's Disease Initiative (AJDI) was a voluntary Johne's disease (JD) control program with the goal of reducing the prevalence and impact of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection in dairy cattle in Atlantic Canada. The aim of this research was to enhance JD prevention and management. The AJDI was launched in 2011 as a 3-year risk assessment-based program. Four hundred and sixty-three of the region's 664 herds (70%) enrolled in the AJDI. Environmental cultures (EC) were conducted annually for AJDI herds. The overall herd apparent prevalence of MAP infection was 26.5%. The mean apparent within-herd prevalence of MAP infection for the 42 EC-positive herds which conducted cow-level testing was 5.5%. Evaluation of factors associated with MAP infection revealed that herd risk of being EC-positive was significantly higher as the number of lactating cows, the number of bull calves, and the percentage of pneumonia in heifers increased. The herd risk was also significantly higher if the herd planned to purchase cattle in the next year and if the herd had more than 5% mortality in heifers that were one to four months of age. Furthermore, the herd risk was significantly higher in summer and was significantly higher if the herd was in Newfoundland and Labrador but significantly lower if the herd was in Nova Scotia. In this study, 894 RAMPs were conducted by AJDI-certified veterinarians on 457 dairy herds. JD risk assessment indicated that on average, existing management practices had moderate potential to spread MAP between and within farms. After one year of participation in the AJDI, JD risk assessment showed improvements in management practices that were statistically significant. However, producers' self-assessed adherence rating indicated fair adherence to first RAMPs and certified veterinarians' adherence rating indicated slight adherence. RAMP-specific satisfaction was high among 133 AJDI producers surveyed using a satisfaction questionnaire. This study used theory of planned behaviour framework to design a questionnaire to elicit and measure behavioural intent of cow managers. A total of 68 cow managers completed in-person questionnaires from June 2012 to September 2013. On average, cow managers had moderate positive intent to utilize strategies to prevent and control JD. Strengthening either behavioural beliefs or control beliefs towards JD were associated with increased likelihood that cow managers intended to utilize strategies to prevent and control JD. A communication training workshop was developed as an intervention to support the AJDI. Seventeen food animal production medicine (FAPM) veterinarians and three FAPM senior veterinary students participated in a pre-post intervention design. Study results showed that prior to training, communication skills of participants had significant limitations, including skill deficits in communication tasks associated with adherence to veterinary recommendations. Communication skills of participants significantly improved with the training provided. Rater training and experience was important to facilitate fair assessment of communication skills. This research, through evaluation of the AJDI, exploration of factors potentially affecting adherence to JD control measures, and implementation of communication skills training and assessment for FAPM veterinarians, offered new information to assist in JD prevention and control.