UNE psychology researcher and former veterinary nurse Nicola Paul is working to understand what both workforces need to maintain positive wellbeing – and to continue to meet community demand in an unpredictable climate.
In earlier research, the PhD candidate found that veterinary and animal care workers experienced posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, psychological distress, burn-out and grief in the aftermath of the 2020 Back Summer bushfires. Their pivotal role in the disaster response and recovery was poorly acknowledged, and there are fears they may face “extreme and prolonged stressors” as climate change worsens.
“Working in a veterinary practice is extremely busy,” Nicola said. “I can remember doing 14-hour shifts without a break, and every day you witness suffering and death, and sad and distressed animal owners. Most practices also provide free care for native wildlife, stray and homeless animals.
“Climate change is imposing new stressors on top of that workload. We have seen this already with rolling natural disasters – first drought, then bushfires and floods.
“A large proportion of qualified veterinary staff leave the industry after about five years, which exacerbates the workforce shortages and makes it harder for people to get care for their pets.”
Now Nicola is exploring the parallels between the experiences of animal and human health care workers (including doctors, nurses, allied health providers, and social workers), and the predictors of their wellbeing.
“Both groups contain very compassionate and dedicated individuals conducting work that is demanding but largely invisible. They are also not mutually exclusive: every pet comes with a human that veterinary staff must care for as well. And a lot of health workers with human patients run into situations where they have to think about animal family members, like when there’s domestic violence or diseases that affect humans and animals.”
During two surveys – of practice managers and health care workers themselves – Nicola hopes to uncover what supports might be helpful.
“Practice managers are often the ones advocating for workers to have more leave, longer breaks or higher pay, and staff go to them when they are struggling,” Nicola said. “As part of wellbeing, I am interested in mental health in addition to organisational support, leadership and financial security, so that we might look at introducing preventative measures before care workers become depressed and burnt-out.”
More broadly, the research raises important questions about how society values care work. “There is often an assumption that love is enough, but people don’t see what sacrifices these essential personnel make,” Nicola said.
“We’ve already seen some pretty horrible outcomes from failing to integrate human and animal health in emergency responses. We’re also seeing the effects of the cost-of-living and housing crises, with human health care workers helping more and more people struggling to afford medical care for themselves, and animal shelter workers helping the same people when they can no longer care for their pets.
“Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, human and animal health care workers have been under enormous pressure, stepping up to fill the gaps left by one crisis after another. National policy should be protecting these workers, and there’s a big incentive to keep them in their jobs because we need them so much.”
To take part in the first online survey of practice managers, go to https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0ufHPmglri4ajkO
