Abstract
Mental health and wellness research continue to be a topic of importance among veterinary students in the United States of America (US). Limited peer reviewed literature focusing on South African veterinary students is available. South African veterinary medical students might benefit from approaches to improve mental health and wellness similar to those recommended in the US. However, these recommendations may not address the underlying risk factors for mental health and wellness concerns or mismatch resources available to South African veterinary medical students. The purpose of this collaborative study was to compare the mental health and wellness among veterinary students enrolled at the University of California, Davis (UCD), and the University of Pretoria (UP), the only veterinary school in South Africa. Our primary research question was; Are the measures of mental health and wellness for students at similar stages in the veterinary curriculum different between the two schools? We hypothesized that mental health and wellness as determined by assessment of anxiety, burnout, depression, and quality of life between the two schools is different. A cross-sectional study of 102 students from UCD and 74 students from UP, at similar preclinical stages (Year 2 for UCD and Year 4 for UP) of the veterinary curriculum was performed. Anxiety, burnout, depression, and quality of life were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Short Form-8 (SF-8), respectively. Students from both schools had moderate levels of anxiety, high levels of burnout, mild to moderate levels of depression, poor mental health, and good physical health. Our results suggest that similar mental health and wellness concerns in South African veterinary students is comparable with concerns in veterinary medical students in the US. Recommendations and resources to improve mental health and wellness in US veterinary medical students might be applicable to South African veterinary medical students.
Highlights
Several universities educating veterinarians in the United States have recently undergone curricular revision
Results of the 1 male student enrolled from the UCD cohort was excluded from further analysis of comparisons between the 2 schools
The ethnic composition of University of Pretoria (UP) students was 104 White/Caucasian, 17 Black African, 17 Indian, and 7 colored
Summary
Several universities educating veterinarians in the United States have recently undergone curricular revision. The UCD’s revised integrated block design curriculum was anticipated to reduce student and faculty stress and burnout by focusing learning material to fundamental “Day One Skills” necessary for graduates [1]. While the UP’s driving forces for change were programmatic and educational, the UCD identified student and faculty stress and burnout as an additional impetus for curricular change. Student mental health and wellness among veterinary students is associated with design, modification or change of curriculum. The similarities between drivers for curricular changes between UCD and UP programs included emphasis on core learning material for entry level veterinarians (Day One Skills), and recognition of the influences of external forces such as licensing accrediting bodies, and other stakeholders [1, 2]
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