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Review Articles

Current insights in veterinarians’ psychological wellbeing

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Pages 3-12 | Received 17 Feb 2019, Accepted 15 Aug 2019, Published online: 13 Oct 2019
 

ABSTRACT

This article outlines some of the key prevalence studies regarding the psychological health of veterinarians, and highlights the reasons for distress, with factors such as workload, financial issues, long working hours, challenging interactions, unexpected outcomes, euthanasia and fear of complaints or making mistakes being commonly cited. During the last decade, many ways to improve veterinarians’ wellbeing have been suggested, including both individual and organisational strategies. However, what appears to be lacking is a body of intervention research to test the effectiveness of these strategies.

This article outlines some of the types of psychological distress which have been reported in veterinarians, and emphasises key issues such as the impact of practitioners’ help-seeking behaviour and moral and ethical dilemmas. Some wellbeing interventions from overseas studies are highlighted, with a focus on strategies that can be adopted by organisations as well as individuals. The review includes several recommendations to improve the psychological wellbeing of veterinarians such as using multi-disciplinary clinician wellbeing models to structure interventions, the possibilities of mindful self-compassion practices, and the regular use of peer support and reflective groups. It concludes that implementation and robust evaluation of wellbeing initiatives in the New Zealand veterinary population are urgently needed.

This article is part of the following collections:
Wellbeing for the Veterinary Profession

Notes

1 JF Weston and SJG Gordon, School of Veterianry Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, NZ.

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