Abstract
Higher psychosocial work demands in veterinary and academic professions are associated with decreased occupational, physical, and mental well-being. COVID-19 introduced far-reaching challenges that may have increased the psychosocial work demands for these populations, thereby impacting individual- and institutional-level well-being. Our objective was to investigate the psychosocial work demands, health and well-being, and perceived needs of faculty, staff, residents and interns at the Ontario Veterinary College, in Ontario, Canada, during COVID-19. A total of 157 respondents completed a questionnaire between November 2020 and January 2021, that included the Third Version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-III) and open-text questions on perceived needs for well-being. Results showed that COPSOQ-III dimensions of quantitative demands, recognition, sense of community, burnout, stress, and depressive symptoms, were significantly worse in our study population than the Canadian norm. Quantitative and emotional demands, health and well-being (including depressive symptoms, stress, cognitive stress, somatic stress, and burnout), and work-life conflict were also reported to have worsened since the COVID-19 restrictions for most respondents. Females and caregivers had higher odds of experiencing increased work demands, and decreased health and well-being, compared to males and non-caregivers. However, male caregivers experienced worsened supervisor relations, compared to female caregivers. Social capital also worsened for clinical and part-time employees, compared to full-time and non-clinical employees. Respondents identified increased workload support, community-building, recognition of employees' capacities and personal needs, flexible work schedules, and consistent communication, as strategies to increase well-being during COVID-19 and generally. Overall, our findings suggest that COVID-19 has increased occupational demands, work-life conflicts, and decreased well-being in veterinary academia. Institutional-level interventions are discussed and recommended to aid individual and institutional well-being.
Highlights
Mental health is an area of concern in both the veterinary profession and in veterinary academia
The results from the COPSOQ-III are presented in Table 3 with means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all dimensions, as well as normative data for international and Canadian populations for comparison [35, 43, 44]
We suggest younger and part-time employees be especially involved in these programs, given that they were at greater odds of experiencing worsened sense of community during COVID19
Summary
Mental health is an area of concern in both the veterinary profession and in veterinary academia. Literature from the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia report that veterinarians experience higher levels of anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, burnout, and lower levels of positive mental well-being, than the general population [1,2,3,4,5]. Recent studies have contributed to a limited body of knowledge on the mental well-being of veterinarians in Canada [6] and Ontario [7]. These studies yielded similar findings to their international counterparts, reporting poorer mental health and lower resilience in veterinarians than reference populations [6, 7]. A study of 785 Finnish veterinarians observed that those involved in education and research reported the highest levels of stress [14], and another study of 2,004 Australian veterinarians reported that those in salaried positions (i.e., research, teaching, industry and government) experienced the highest levels of depression [2]
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