[en] There have been few formal studies on stress in veterinary surgeons and, in the rare studies available, stress is not examined jointly through the levels of job strain and job engagement, the sources of stress in the issue of work environment and the work-home interference. The
authors’ goal in this study was to analyse job engagement, job strain, burnout, work-home interference and job stress factors among 216 Belgian veterinary surgeons. Rural practice was compared to small animal and mixed activity. The mean job strain and job engagement
level in veterinary surgeons was not higher than what we found in other working populations. However, 15.6 % of the group were found to be suffering from high burnout. Rural practitioners had a lower level of job engagement than small animal veterinary surgeons. These small animal practitioners had a lower level of job strain than the mixed practitioners. The level of burnout did not differ significantly across the three types of activity. In comparison to other Belgian and Dutch workers, veterinary surgeons perceived more negative workhome
interference. Bovine and mixed practitioners were the most concerned with this problem. The two most important sources of stress reported by bovine practitioners were relations to farmers and working time management (including emergencies and availability).
Disciplines :
Veterinary medicine & animal health Social, industrial & organizational psychology
Author, co-author :
Hansez, Isabelle ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de personne et société > Valorisation des ressources humaines
Schins, F.
Rollin, Frédéric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département clinique des animaux de production (DCP) > Médecine interne des équidés, des ruminants et des porcs
Language :
English
Title :
Occupational stress, work-home interference and burnout among Belgian veterinary practitioners.
Anonymous. (2002). Survey details stress factors that influence Australian vets. Australian Veterinary Journal80: 522-524.
Arluke, A. (1991). Coping with euthanasia: a case study of shelter culture. Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association 198: 1176-1180.
Bartram, D.J. and Baldwin, D.S. (2008). Veterinary surgeons and suicide: influences, opportunities and research directions. Veterinary Record 12: 36-40.
Bledsoe, W.D. (1991). Comments on stress and burnout articles. Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association 198: 2032-2036.
Bossut, M. and De Keyser, V. (2002). Exploratory research about psychosocial risks in Walloon agriculture. DOCUP federal 2000.01.14. Liège, Belgium: University of Liège.
Cooper, C.L., Rout, U. and Faragher, B. (1989). Mental health, job satisfaction, and job stress among general practitioners. British Medical Journal 298:366-370.
Cordes, C.J. and Dougherty, T.W. (1993). A review and an integration of research on job burnout. Academy of Management Review 18: 621-656.
De Keyser, V. and Hansez, I. (1996). Vers une perspective transactionnelle du stress au travail: Pistes d'évaluations méthodologiques. Les Cahiers de Médecine du Travail 33:133-144.
Elkins, A.D. and Elkins, J.R. (1987), Professional burnout among U.S. veterinarians: how serious a problem? Veterinary Medicine 82: 1245-1250.
Firth, H. and Britton, P. (1989). Burnout, absence and turnover among British nursing staff. Journal of Occupational Psychology 62: 55-59.
Gabel, C. and Gerberich, G. (2001). Risk factors among veterinarians. Veterinary Injury Risk 13: 80-86.
Gardner, D.H. and Hini, D. (2006). Work-related stress in the veterinary profession in New Zealand. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 54: 119-124.
Garrett, D.K. and McDaniel, A.M. (2001). A new look at nurse burnout: the effects of environmental uncertainty and social climate. Journal of Nursing Administration 31: 91-96.
Geurts, S.A.E., Taris, T.W., Kompier, M.A.J., Dikkers, J.S.E., Van Hooff, M.L.M and Kinnunen, U.M. (2005). Work-home interaction from a work psychological perspective: Development and validation of a new questionnaire, the SWING. Work and Stress 19 (4): 319-339.
Hansez, I., Grisard A., and De Keyser, V. (2004). 'Organizational changes, job strain among employees and client satisfaction: elaboration of the flexihealth concept, PS/12/29 - 1999/2003, Internal research report, University of Liège, Belgium.
Houston, D. and Allt, S.K. (1997). Psychological distress and error making among junior house officers. British Journal of Health in Psychology 2: 141-151.
Jeyaretnam, J., Jones, H. and Philips, M. (2000). Disease and injury among veterinarians. Australian Veterinary Journal 78: 625-629.
Karasek, R.A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: Implication for job redesign. Administrative Science Quaterly 24: 285-308.
Klein, G.T. (1996). The effects of acute stressors on decision making. In: Stress and Human Performance. pp 49-88. Edited by J.E. Driskell and E. Salas. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kogan, L. and McConnell, L. (2001). Veterinary students and psychologic services. Journal of American Veterinary Association 218: 873-875.
Langley, R., Pryor, W. and O'Brien, K. (1995). Health hazards among veterinarians: A survey and review of the literature. Journal Agromed 2: 23-52.
Lazarus, R.S. (1995). Psychological stress in the workplace. In: Occupational stress: a handbook. PP 3-14. Edited by R. Crandall and P.L. Perrewé. Bristol: Taylor & Francis.
Lee, R.T. and Ashforth, B.E. (1995). A meta-analytic examination of the correlates of the three dimensions of job burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology 81: 123-133.
Mackay, C.J. and Cooper, C.L. (1987). Occupational stress and health: some current issues, In: International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, pp 167-199. Edited by CL. Cooper and I.T. Robertson. Chichester, UK : John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Maslach, C (1982). Burnout : the cost of caring. Englewoods Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Meyer, J.P. and Allen, N.J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Miller, R. G. (1981) Simultaneous statistical inference (2nd ed.). New York: Springer Verlag.Myers, H.L. and Myers, L.B. (2004). 'It's difficult being a dentist': stress and health in the general dental practitioner. British Dental Journal 197:89-93.
Nyssen, A.S., Hansez, I., Bade, P., Lamy, M. and De Keyser, V. (2003). Occupational stress and burnout in anaesthesia. British Journal of Anaesthesia 90: 1-5.
Payne, R. (1987). Stress in surgeons. In: Stress in Health Professionals, pp 89-106. Edited by R. Payne and L.F. Cozens. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Phillips, D., Morrison, C. and Campbell, N.J. (2001). Same profession, different career: A study of men and women in veterinary medicine. In: Advances in psychology research. Volume 5, pp 1-53. Edited by F.H. Colombus. New York: Hardcover.
Poole, A. (1998). Survey of occupational hazards in companion animal practices. Journal of Veterinary Medical Association 212: 1386-1388.
Rejula, K., Rasanen, K., Hamalainen, M., Juntunen, K., Lindbohm, M.L., Taskinen, H., Bergbom, B. and Rinta-Jouppi, M. (2003). Work environment and Occupational Health of Finnish Veterinarians. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 44: 46-57.
Revicki, D. and May, H.J. (1989). Organizational characteristics, occupational stress and mental health in nurses. Behavioral Medicine 15: 30-36.
Russell, R.L. (1994). Preparing veterinary students with the interactive skills to effectively work with client and staff. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education Association 21:40-43.
Sanders, C.R. (1995). Killing with kindness: Veterinary euthanasia and the social construction of personhood. Sociological Forum 10: 195-214.
Schaufeli, W.B. and Bakker, A.B. (2004). Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior 25: 293-315.
Schneider, B.J. (1996). Euthanasia and the veterinarian. Canadian Veterinary Journal 37: 217-218.
Sparks, K., Cooper, C., Fried, Y. and Shirom, A. (1997). The effect of hours of work on health: A meta analysis review. Journal of Occupational Organisational Psychological 70:391-408.
Trimpop, R., Austin, E.J. and Kirkcaldy, B.D. (2000). Occupational and traffic accidents among veterinary surgeons. Stress Medicine 16: 243-257.
Zar, J.H. (1999). Biostatisticalanalysis (fourth edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Wolfgang, A.P. (1988). Job stress in the health professions: a study of physicians, nurses and pharmacists. Behavioral Medicine 14: 43-47.
