Development and validation of a contextualised measure of resilience in veterinary practice: the Veterinary Resilience Scale-Personal Resources (VRS-PR)

A career development program: Building resilience in veterinary undergraduates

Retaining workers in high stress occupations and preparing undergraduates to enter these occupations continues to intensify along with mental health and wellbeing challenges. The veterinary profession is particularly vulnerable to poor psychological health which contributes negatively to the retention of veterinarians in the profession. Employing the positive psychology theoretical model rationale, and the andragogy philosophies and approaches, a veterinary career development (VCD) program was scaffolded across a five year Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) degree. Thematic analysis of participants’ feedback with a focus on what they think, feel and do provided valuable insights into participants’ developing skill-strength and tacit knowledge, and their resilience-building. The authors believe this is the first report on the creation and outcomes of a veterinary career development program that fosters the building of resilience through the attainment of tacit knowledge and practical skills required for successful employment and wellbeing.

Employability as a Guiding Outcome in Veterinary Education: Findings of the VetSet2Go Project

This paper presents a mini-review of employability as a guiding outcome in veterinary education-its conceptualisation, utility, core elements and dimensions, and pedagogical approaches-through a summary of the findings of a major international project with the same aims (the VetSet2Go project). Guided by a conception of the successful veterinary professional as one capable of navigating and sustainably balancing the (sometimes competing) needs and expectations of multiple stakeholders, the project integrated multiple sources of evidence to derive an employability framework representing the dimensions and capabilities most important to veterinary professional success. This framework provides a useful complement to those based in narrower views of competency and professionalism. One notable difference is its added emphasis on broad success outcomes of satisfaction and sustainability as well as task-oriented efficacy, thus inserting "the self" as a major stakeholder and bringing attention to resilience and sustainable well-being. The framework contains 18 key capabilities consistently identified as important to employability in the veterinary context, aligned to five broad, overlapping domains: veterinary capabilities (task-oriented work performance), effective relationships (approaches to others), professional commitment (approaches to work and the broader professional "mission"), psychological resources (approaches to self), plus a central process of reflective self-awareness and identity formation. A summary of evidence supporting these is presented, as well as recommendations for situating, developing, and accessing these as learning outcomes within veterinary curricula. Though developed within the specific context of veterinarian transition-to-practise, this framework would be readily adaptable to other professions, particularly in other health disciplines.

Resilience of veterinarians at different career stages: The role of self-efficacy, coping strategies and personal resources for resilience in veterinary practice

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of demographic and psychological factors on resilience in new graduate-, mid- and late-career veterinarians working in Australia.

METHOD

An online cross-sectional survey of 800 veterinarians collected demographic and descriptive data in two stages from late 2015 to 2017, such as gender, average hours worked per week, type and region of practice and intention to leave veterinary medicine. Psychological factors were measured utilising the Brief Resilience Scale, the Veterinary Resilience Scale-Personal Resources, the Brief COPE and General Self-Efficacy measures.

RESULTS

Using a full-factorial univariate General Linear Model, no significant difference in general resilience was evident between the three career-stage groups (p > 0.05). However, higher self-efficacy, higher personal resources for resilience in veterinary practice, and lower problem-focused, higher emotion-focused and lower dysfunctional coping strategies were related to higher resilience. In the model for mid- and late-career veterinarians, a weak positive relationship existed between higher average hours worked per week and higher resilience, while intention to leave veterinary practice was also related to lower resilience in mid- and late-career veterinarians.

CONCLUSION

This study supports the value of personal resources, rather than career stage, gender or region of work, as influential in developing veterinarian resilience.