Table 2.
Awareness and knowledge of animal welfare of students from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and Universidad de Chile (UChile).
| Total (n = 1000) |
PUC (n = 500) |
UChile (n = 500) |
p-Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness of animal welfare, n (%) | 765 (76.5) | 379 (75.8) | 386 (77.2) | 0.655 1 |
| Total scores of knowledge (0–7), mean (SD) 4 | 4.50 (1.37) | 3.7 (1.35) | 3.8 (1.15) | 0.420 2 |
| Self-reported level of knowledge | 0.400 3 | |||
| High, n (%) | 511 (51.1) | 247 (49.4) | 264 (52.8) | |
| Medium, n (%) | 307 (30.7) | 153 (30.6) | 154 (30.8) | |
| Low/No, n (%) 5 | 178 (17.8) | 97 (19.4) | 81 (16.2) | |
| Not interested, n (%) | 4 (0.4) | 3 (0.6) | 1 (0.2) | |
| Source of information | 0.012 1 | |||
| Educational institutions, n (%) | 119 (11.9) | 71 (14.2) | 48 (9.6) | |
| Social media apps, n (%) | 334 (33.4) | 159 (31.8) | 175 (35.0) | |
| Friends and family, n (%) | 153 (15.3) | 63 (12.6) | 90 (18.0) | |
| Internet (e.g., websites), n (%) | 208 (20.8) | 100 (20.0) | 108 (21.6) | |
| Mass media (e.g., radio, television, cinema), n (%) | 65 (6.5) | 36 (7.2) | 29 (5.8) | |
| None, I’ve never heard about animal welfare, n (%) | 121 (12.1) | 71 (14.2) | 50 (10.0) | |
| Understanding of animal welfare | 0.758 1 | |||
| Mental and physical state, n (%) | 555 (55.5) | 281 (56.2) | 274 (54.8) | |
| Appropriate policies and legislation, n (%) | 404 (40.4) | 197 (39.4) | 207 (41.4) | |
| Avoid use of animals, n (%) | 41 (4.1) | 22 (4.4) | 19 (3.8) | |
| Dairy cows feel more comfortable when walking on: | 0.076 1 | |||
| Smooth cement, n (%) | 25 (2.5) | 18 (3.6) | 7 (1.4) | |
| Soil, n (%) | 846 (84.6) | 416 (83.2) | 430 (86.0) | |
| I don’t know, n (%) | 129 (12.9) | 66 (13.2) | 63 (12.6) | |
| Interested in animal welfare course, n (%) | 847 (84.7) | 421 (84.2) | 426 (85.2) | 0.725 1 |
1 Chi-square test for independence. 2 One-way ANOVA. 3 Fisher’s exact test. 4 Total scores of knowledge are derived from the sum of response of the following variables: awareness of five freedoms (Yes = 1), awareness of Law on protection of animals in Chile (Yes = 1), animals have emotions (Yes = 1), animals have personality types (Yes = 1), anaesthetics is used in castration (Yes = 1), calf separated from mother after birth (Yes = 1), and dehorning is done with ease of handling (Yes = 1). 5 ‘Low/no’ is a combined category consisting of responses to ‘Low knowledge’ and ‘No knowledge’.