Stress and Depression among Veterinary Medical Students.

J Vet Med Educ. Spring 2017;44(1):3-8.

Stacy L Killinger, Sean Flanagan, Eleanor Castine, Kimberly A S Howard

Abstract

While existing literature suggests that professional students (e.g., medical, dental, law, nursing, etc.) experience high levels of stress and depression, the experiences of veterinary medical students have been less well examined. The purpose of this study was to explore the levels of stress and depression among veterinary medical students and to examine the relationship between these variables. Study participants were 1,245 veterinary medical students from North America. The findings provide support for the assertion that veterinary medical students experience high levels of stress and depression. Results also indicated that there is a correlation between stress and depression for veterinary medical students and that female students experience higher levels of stress and depression than their male counterparts.

Keywords

depression; mental health; stress; student health; well-being;

Article Tools:

Medline

Email to me

Archives Highlights:

A public health campaign to increase awareness of the risk of dog bites in South Australia.
Over one third (36-37%) of dog owners and 25-29% of non-dog owners had been previously bitten by a dog, although most did not require medical attention. Approximately 70% of dog owners believed it was safe for strangers to approach their dog, 34-37% allowed children or other people to pat their dog without permission, and less than half separated their dog from visitors or delivery people. In contrast, few of the non-dog owners allowed their children to pat a dog without the owner's permission and only 2% allowed them to play with dogs without supervision.

Limb amputation for feline appendicular bone tumors results in excellent recovery outcomes and high owner satisfaction with a low incidence of complications.
Time to return to walking without support was < 3 days in 69.7% of cats and 3 to 7 days in 16.7%. Activity level changes were reported as no change in 75.8% of cats. There were no behavioral changes in 92.3% of cats. Quality of life following amputation was recorded as excellent in 82.4% of cats. Owner satisfaction was reported as very satisfied, moderately satisfied, or satisfied in 98.5% of cats.

Factors Associated with Medication Noncompliance in Dogs in New Zealand.
Medication noncompliance was recorded for 47% (71/151) of owners. Increasing dog age was associated with better owner compliance. Forty-seven percent (71/151) of owners reported that "nobody" showed them how to administer the medication. One-third of dog owners (47/151) reported challenges in medicating their pets. The most common reason cited by clients reporting challenges was a resistant pet.

Development of a dog owner caregiving style scale (Lincoln Owner Caregiving Questionnaire, LOCQ) and its relationship with behaviour problems in dogs
Compared to owners of dogs without behaviour problems, owners with high scores for the Disorganised caregiving style predicted dogs with separation related problems or with more than one behaviour problem, owners with high Avoidant caregiving style scores predicted dogs with Fear, and owners with high scores for both Disorganised and Avoidant caregiving styles predicted dogs with Aggressivity problems.

Feline acute patient physiologic and laboratory evaluation scores and other prognostic factors in cats with first-time diabetic ketoacidosis.
Median BG was significantly higher in non-survivors (431 mg/dL) compared with survivors (343 mg/dL) and BG predicted mortality. For every 1 mg/dL increase in BG, the odds of death increased by 1.004.