Perception of veterinary medicine students about the relationship between animal abuse and domestic violence

Abstract

The correlation between animal abuse and domestic violence, especially those practiced against women, the elderly and children, was called The Link Theory, also called Link Theory. This is identified by studies that recognize the ability of an aggressor to act violently, either by direct or indirect actions, against animals and people. The veterinarian, upon realizing that an animal has been abused or domesticised, can report the competent authorities and break this link between the violence of animals and vulnerable humans. Thus, the objective of this work was to describe and compare the perception of students of veterinary medicine, enrolled at the Sertão Campus of the Federal University of Sergipe, on the subject of animal abuse and domestic violence. Forty-two students from the beginning and end of the course were selected as target audience, who answered a questionnaire that had questions related to the theme. The results were tabulated through the Microsoft Excel program, and a descriptive statistic was performed. It was observed that 80% (20/25) of the students enrolled at the beginning of the course never heard about the theory of the link, however 100% (17/17) of the students who were in the last stage of the graduation know the theme. From the data described, it is perceived the importance of the approach in the undergraduate veterinary medicine on the subject, because this is an important profession and acts against the mistreatment of animals and consequently in the cycle of domestic violence.