Exposure to animal suffering, adult attachment styles, and professional quality of life in a sample of Italian veterinarians

PLoS One. 2020 Aug 27;15(8):e0237991. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237991. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Contextual and individual risk factors of veterinarians' professional quality of life are being debated. Research suggests that attachment styles are relevant predictors of professional quality of life; however, their role in work-related well-being of veterinarians is yet to be ascertained. In the present study, self-report measures on exposure to animal suffering, adult attachment styles, and professional quality of life were administered to 1,445 Italian veterinarians (70% females) aged 24 to 74 years old; sociodemographic information and information on workload were also collected. Female gender, higher levels of ordinary workload, on-call hours per week, exposure to animal suffering, together with fearful and preoccupied attachment styles were significantly associated with lower levels of veterinarians' quality of life. This suggests that work-related factors may combine with individual psychological features in promoting or disadvantaging the professional quality of life of veterinarians. Implications of these findings for promoting veterinarians' quality of life and directions for future research are discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Animal Welfare*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Quality of Life*
  • Stress, Psychological*
  • Veterinarians / psychology*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

Pharmaceutical company MSD covered publication fees. The funder provided support in the form of salary for author Alessandro Schianchi, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.