Escolha da área de atuação na medicina veterinária: propensão vocacional ou resultado de um contexto socioeconômico

Abstract

The present study deals with the socio-economic profile of veterinary students and professionals and the factors that influence their choice of career, including political, economic, social, educational, family and psychological factors. The purpose of the research is to verify whether there is a correlation between the socio-economic profile of veterinary professionals and students and their choice of field, as well as to point out the most saturated areas of the veterinary market and present discussions and reflections that can support the development of proposals capable of reducing the saturation of the general and specific veterinary market. The survey data was obtained by applying a virtual survey made available through the Google Forms platform between November 21 and December 13, 2023. Sampling was non probabilistic and non-intentional. The results were converted into spreadsheets and graphs and the analyses were carried out following a qualitative-quantitative approach. The statistical approach used the logit binary choice model. The results show that the socio-economic profile of the survey volunteers corroborates the statistics obtained by studies carried out at national level. It was observed that gender and the place where the participants had lived for most of their lives were the factors that had the greatest influence on their choice of area of work. Furthermore, the results reinforce the saturation of the segments related to domestic animals and reiterate the importance of implementing measures capable of diversifying the student body of veterinary medicine and making internships and practices more accessible in areas other than small animal clinics and surgeries.