Students’ perception about the use of animals during practical classes (719.15)

Abstract

The use of vertebrate animals in teaching‐learning has been questioned since several educational alternatives are nowadays possible. The aim was to analyze the perception of undergraduate students of Pharmacy and Dental courses about using animals in practical classes for teaching.One hundred students of each course participate of the study. The inclusion criterion was individual that had concluded the basic disciplines that use animals for teaching. They were asked to fill a questionnaire containing 15 objective and discursive questions. The data were tabulated with percentage represented in the columns. Approved by FORP Ethics Committee.Three questions were chosen to be reported .The majority of the students of Pharmacy ( 53% ) and Dental (57%) courses answered that the animals are important and useful for their learning. The majority of Dental students (72%) reported none or light discomforts while Pharmacy students (76%) reported light to media discomforts. In relation to the questions about refusing to participate in the practical classes with animals or to be favorable to replacing them, the majority of the Pharmacy students answered they refused (52%) and were in favor of replacing (58%) while only the minority of Dental students respond similarly to the same questions (35% and 44%, respectively).Although the majority of the students of both course answered that the animals are important and useful for their learning, the majority of Pharmacy students reported medium to light discomfort, refuses to partipate of practical classes with animals and is in favor of replacing them. These results show the necessity that the professors pursue alternatives to replace animals in practical classes.Grant Funding Source: Supported by University of Sao Paulo