Influences on the decision to study veterinary medicine: variation with sex and background

Outcome of Communication Training in Veterinary Studies: Influence on the Perception of the Relevance of Veterinary Competencies and Self-Assessment of Communication Skills

Since communication skills contribute significantly to professional success among veterinarians, there is a particular focus on developing communication classes in veterinary curricula. At Freie Universität Berlin, an e-learning course covering the basics of communication and a practical communication course based on role plays with and without simulation persons have been established. The outcome of these communication courses on the assessment of the relevance of several veterinary competencies and on the self-assessment of communication skills using the SE-12 questionnaire was investigated. For this purpose, students were surveyed before and after the e-learning course as well as before and after the practical course. Veterinarians were also surveyed on the relevance of veterinary competencies. The relevance of communicative competencies for professional success was rated significantly higher by the students after completing the practical course than by the other students and the veterinarians. Self-assessment of communication skills showed little increase after the e-learning course, but a significant increase after the practical course. Thus, an effective outcome of the communication classes was observed mainly after the practical course. However, the effect of the e-learning course cannot be ruled out since the students participating in the practical course have also completed the e-learning course beforehand.

Professional Identity of Pakistani Veterinary Students: Conceptualization and Negotiation

Most work on the professional identity of veterinary and medical professionals has been conceptualized in the USA and Europe. It reports professional identity formation to be highly individualized, triggered by experiences of identity distress, and identity negotiation strategies to be generally focused around personal reflection. However, within Asia, important sociocultural differences exist that might influence professional identity and its development. Societal values may take precedence over individual ones, and some cultures consider the veterinary profession as stigmatized. With this background, we seek to understand professional identity and its construction in Pakistani veterinary students. We selected five students through purposive sampling and invited them for narrative interviews. Social identity theory and Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs predominantly contributed to the theoretical framework, which together with principles of social phenomenology and narrative analysis informed qualitative analysis of the transcribed interviews using an in-depth approach. We found that students' professional identity was predominantly socially constructed, though their sense of their identity was not very well developed. Role models, social stigma, professional socialization in clinical settings, gender, and to some extent, cultural interpretations of religious messages seemed to mediate professional identity development. Students responded differently to their understanding of professional stigma, making sense of stigma through strategies such as denial or internalization. Since Pakistani veterinary students experience social and personal values differently compared to those from predominantly individualistic cultures, identity formation through reflecting on personal values may be less effective than strategies that emphasize social learning and beliefs.

Attitudes of UK veterinary students towards careers in the production animal sector: A mixed methods approach

BACKGROUND

Within the production animal sector, it has long been forecast that demand for veterinary services could outstrip supply. This study aims to identify factors influencing veterinary undergraduates' attitudes towards a career in farm animal veterinary practice and how those factors may be influenced by their experiences during their time as an undergraduate.

METHODS

An online survey was distributed to all vet schools in the UK and Ireland. Thematic analysis and descriptive data analysis were performed on the 1146 responses received.

RESULTS

Seven themes were identified: relationships, preferences and interest, fit, direct experience, fear, ethics and values and lifestyle. When considering first job choice, extra mural studies (EMS) and personal interest (60% and 75% of respondents respectively) were very influential. Factors that appeal or put off respondents from a career in farm animal varied dependent on anticipated first job (p < 0.001), but working hours and out of hours were consistently identified as barriers.

CONCLUSION

The results highlight the importance of EMS being more transparent about the profession and using the opportunity to discuss undergraduate concerns regarding farm animal practice.

Challenging identity: development of a measure of veterinary career motivations

BACKGROUND

While little is known about the motivations underpinning veterinary work, previous literature has suggested that the main influences on veterinary career choice are early/formative exposure to animals or veterinary role models. The aim of this study was to develop and provisionally validate a veterinary career motivations questionnaire to assess the strength of various types of career motivations in graduating and experienced veterinarians.

METHODS

A cross-sectional sample of experienced veterinarians (n=305) and a smaller cohort of newly graduated veterinarians (n=53) were surveyed online using a long-form questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to iteratively derive a final, short-form questionnaire for survey of a second cross-sectional sample of experienced veterinarians (n=751).

RESULTS

EFA derived a final questionnaire with 22 items loading onto six factors (social purpose, animal orientation, vocational identity, challenge and learning, career affordances, and people orientation). While motivations based on animal orientation were predictably strong, those based on vocational identity were not universal and were weaker in younger and graduate veterinarians; both of these motivations were rated lower by male veterinarians. Motivations based on challenge and learning emerged as some of the strongest, most universal and most influential; people orientation and social purpose were also important, particularly for older veterinarians.

CONCLUSION

The major motivations for pursuing a veterinary career may best be represented as an intrinsic passion for animal care and for learning through solving varied challenges. These motivations are largely intrinsically oriented and autonomously regulated, thus likely to be supportive of work satisfaction and wellbeing.

The modern UK veterinary profession: photo-elicitation interviewing reveals that small animal and surgical images dominate

More than 80 per cent of vets are employed in clinical practice but other veterinary roles are vital for society. However, even clinical practice does not seem to fulfil some modern graduates, and an increasing number of veterinarians are leaving the profession to pursue other careers. Research suggests that less than 50 per cent of veterinarians would choose to undertake their career path again, so the profession faces a 'workforce crisis'. Through semi-structured photo-elicitation interviewing, this study has explored the image that students embarking on veterinary education have of the profession. The students' dominant image of the profession, and their perception of the public image, was small animal practice. A large proportion (n=16, 80 per cent) of participants saw themselves working in clinical practice, with many (n=8, 40 per cent) aspiring to focus on surgery. The image of the veterinary profession has changed since the 1970s when the James Herriot mixed practice model was well known to the public. The dominant small animal and surgical image emerging demonstrates a need for members of the profession to work together to educate public and entrant perception, emphasising the diversity of veterinary careers and their value to society, to allow aspiring veterinary entrants to develop a range of career goals.

Predicting career sector intent and the theory of planned behaviour: survey findings from Australian veterinary science students

Background

Producing graduates for a breadth of sectors is a priority for veterinary science programs. Undergraduate career intentions represent de-facto ‘outcome’ measures of admissions policy and curricula design, as intentions are strong predictors of eventual behaviour. Informed by Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study aimed to identify if contextually relevant attitudes and self-ratings affect student intentions for veterinary career sectors.

Results

Survey responses from 844 students enrolled in five Australian veterinary programs in 2014 were analysed. Intention was measured for biomedical research/academia, industry, laboratory animal medicine, public health/government/diagnostic laboratory services, mixed practice, intensive animal production, companion animal practice, not work in the veterinary profession, and business/entrepreneurship. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis enabled comparison of explanation of variance in intent by demographics, animal handling experience, species preference, and attitudes to aspects of veterinary work. Career sector intentions were highest for mixed or companion animal clinical practice, then business/entrepreneurship, then non-clinical sectors. Overall, intent was explained to a greater extent by species preferences than by animal experience, attitudes to aspects of veterinary work and demographics (with the exception of mixed practice intent) with gender having no significant effect. Several variables exerted negative effects on career intent for less popular career sectors.

Conclusion

Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) provides a framework to increase understanding of and predict career sector intentions. Incorporation of attitude and self-efficacy measures in our study revealed preference for species types contributes greatly to career sector intentions for veterinary students, particularly for the more popular practice based sectors. Importantly, specific species preferences and other attitudes can have a negative effect on intent for non-aligned veterinary sectors. Further research is required to identify additional attitudes and/or beliefs to better explain variance in intent for less popular career sectors. Veterinary admissions processes may benefit from utilising the TPB framework. Identified effects revealed by this study may stimulate innovation in marketing, recruitment, admissions and curricular design, such as timing and role modelling, to utilise positive effects and mitigate against negative effects identified for sectors requiring greater representation of career intent in the student body.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-018-1725-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An Exploration of the Career Motivations Stated by Early-Career Veterinarians in Australia

Despite the critical influence of motivation on education and work outcomes, little is known about the motivations driving people to become and remain veterinarians. This qualitative study explored the career motivations stated by Australian veterinary graduates (n = 43) using a free-response Ten Statements Test (TST) at graduation, with follow-up interviews 6-8 months later (n = 10). TST responses were coded using an alternate inductive-deductive approach that tested their fit against existing theories of motivation. Results showed that the stated motivations were predominantly oriented to perceived value, rather than self-beliefs such as expectancy of success. About a quarter of the statements were animal-related, principally themed around intrinsic animal orientation (e.g., I like animals) or extrinsic animal-related purpose (e.g., I want to help animals). However, many non-animal themes also emerged, including both intrinsic (e.g., love of learning, challenge/problem solving, variety, social relatedness) and extrinsic (e.g., helping people, social contribution, career opportunity) motivations. Interview data revealed a motivational narrative of early formative influences, with some interviewees describing a later transition toward more people- or goal-oriented motivations. This exploratory study, outlining a broad taxonomy of veterinary career motivations and their alignment to self-determination theory in particular, may provide a useful framework for exploring career motivations in veterinary education.

The Challenges and Issues of Undergraduate Student Retention and Attainment in UK Veterinary Medical Education

Student retention and attainment has recently been identified as a key area for development in veterinary medical education enquiry. Woodfield's research on retention and attainment across the UK disciplines has yielded some unique information about the challenges and issues of students who study veterinary medicine and related subjects. The present literature review aims to expand on Woodfield's findings and explain important issues about retention and attainment across veterinary medicine. Overall, the subject of retention and attainment in undergraduate veterinary medical education needs a great deal more empirical attention, such as data on the retention and attainment of mature and widening access students, and the effects of students being placed at remote locations during their studies. Our findings also cover some unsurprising issues: the dominance of women in a profession that is principally lead by men, the underrepresentation of black and minority ethnic (BME) students in veterinary medicine, and the effects of content overload in the veterinary medical curriculum. Based on data gathered by Woodfield and our investigation of the scholarly and gray literatures, we offer an overview of gaps in current knowledge and recommendations for further research.

Validation of a psychometric instrument to assess motivation in veterinary bachelor students

There are indications that motivation correlates with better performance for those studying veterinary medicine. To assess objectively whether motivation profiles influence both veterinary students' attitudes towards educational interventions and their academic success and whether changes in curriculum can affect students' motivation, there is need for an instrument that can provide a valid measurement of the strength of motivation for the study of veterinary medicine. Our objectives were to design and validate a questionnaire that can be used as a psychometric scale to capture the motivation profiles of veterinary students. Question items were obtained from semi-structured interviews with students and from a review of the relevant literature. Each item was scored on a 5-point scale. The preliminary instrument was trialed on a cohort of 450 students. Responses were subjected to reliability and principal component analysis. A 14-item scale was designed, within which two factors explained 53.4% of the variance among the items. The scale had good face, content, and construct validities as well as a good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=.88).

Care and Justice orientations to moral decision making in veterinary students

An adapted version of the Moral Justification Scale was used to assess moral decision-making orientation in veterinary students, comparing sex and year of study. The Scale consists of vignettes and related statements, each of which was classified as Justice, Care for People or Care for Animals. The importance of each statement in the decision-making process was rated by 204 students on a 10-point Likert Scale. An average score of importance for Justice, Care for People and Care for Animals related statements were calculated for each individual. General inclination scores were calculated by subtracting an individual's average Care score from their average Justice score. Inclination scores suggested that two-thirds of students have a balanced approach, using Justice and Care almost equally in approaching ethical dilemmas. The majority of students, however, show an overall Justice orientation. The attitude towards the importance of Justice did not vary between students of different years or sexes. Students' attitudes towards the importance of Care for People in their decision making were, however, significantly lower for final-year students. Reasons hypothesised include the start of placements. Care for Animals scores were affected by sex, whereby females give more importance to such statements than males.

The motivations and practice-area interests of first-year French veterinary students (2005-2008)

Concerns about new trends in the veterinary profession in several industrialized countries have received significant attention recently. We conducted an online survey among first-year veterinary students enrolled between 2005 and 2008 in France's four National Veterinary Schools (Ecoles Nationales Vétérinaires [ENV]) to inquire into what determined future graduates' practice-area interests and how they built a concept of their future work. A total of 1,080 students-or 70% of first-year students-responded to the survey. These students were predominantly of middle and higher social classes and most of them lived in urban areas. About 96% of the respondents had made the ENV their first choice when taking the entrance examination. In total, 39.7% declared "vocation" as the leading factor influencing their career choice. Together, the three leading practice types (wild animals, pets, and mixed) contemplated by students after graduating amount to 64.7% of the points awarded. Practice types that are not directly related to animal health were disregarded in this analysis. The results convey both how early and how firmly the choice of the veterinary career is made. They highlight the preponderance of the image of the veterinarian as an "animal doctor," the gap between the respective proportions of practice areas in the current employment pattern of veterinarians, and the aspirations of students upon admission to the ENV. A longitudinal study after one year is needed to test whether or not these career choices change during the five years of the ENV program under the influence of teaching and extramural studies.