Psychosocial stress, demoralization and the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and medical drugs by veterinarians

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Abstract

Background

In this cross-sectional study the association between psychosocial stress, demoralization and the consumption of psychotropic substances in veterinarians was examined using data from a sample of 1,060 subjects (52.7% response).

Methods

Multiple logistic regression models were used to determine risk factors for psychosocial stress, demoralization, tobacco consumption (≹ 10 items/day), high-risk alcohol consumption (men > 20 g pure alcohol/day, women > 10 g pure alcohol/day), binge drinking, problem drinking according to CAGE and regular medical drug intake (at least weekly).

Results

Intense psychosocial stress is a risk factor for binge drinking and for regular drug use. High demoralization values are associated with tobacco consumption, problem drinking and regular drug intake. The probability of a high demoralization value increased with intense psychosocial stress.

Practicing veterinarians are more frequently affected by psychosocial stress and have a greater risk of alcohol or drug consumption than veterinarians working in a non-clinical area of work (e.g. Department of Veterinary Services, Industry).

Conclusion

The findings support the hypothesis of complex interrelationships between psychosocial stress, demoralization and the consumption of psychotropic substances in the veterinary profession and underscore the need of further research.

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Most cited references 33

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The CAGE questionnaire: validation of a new alcoholism screening instrument.

D Mayfield, G. Mcleod, P. Hall (1974)

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Work-related stress in the veterinary profession in New Zealand.

D Hini, H Gardner (2006)

To investigate sources of work-related stress in the veterinary profession in New Zealand, perceptions of levels of stress being experienced, and the social support that veterinarians are using to manage work-related stress. A postal survey was distributed to 1,907 veterinarians registered with the Veterinary Council of New Zealand (VCNZ). The survey collected information on respondents' age, gender, type and number of people in the workplace, stress levels, depression, suicidal thoughts and attempts, causes of stress and sources of support. Nine hundred and twenty-seven (48.6%) veterinarians returned useable responses. Veterinarians who were retired, working overseas or did not provide information about their type of work were excluded from the analysis, leaving data from 849 (44.5%) veterinarians. Women experienced more work-related stress and depression than men, veterinarians in small animal/mixed practice reported more stress and depression than those in other types of work, and younger veterinarians experienced higher levels of stress than older veterinarians. The main sources of stress were hours worked, client expectations, and unexpected outcomes. Respondents were also stressed by the need to keep up their knowledge and technical skills, and by personal relationships, finances and their expectations of themselves. Most respondents reported that they had good networks of family and friends to help them deal with stress. In general, respondents tended to rely on informal networks such as family and friends, other veterinarians and workmates to provide support. The small proportion of respondents who reported clinical depression or suicidal thoughts or attempts were more likely than respondents in general to have used health professionals, counselling, pastoral/spiritual support and the Vets in Stress phone line, but less likely to have sought support from employers and workmates. There is a need for a wide range of strategies to manage work-related stress among veterinarians. Sources of stress in the workplace must be identified and strategies developed to control those which present a significant hazard. Strategies may include attention to workloads and working hours, design of work processes, and increasing social support. Training in work-related skills such as communication, conflict management and stress management may be helpful where lack of these skills is contributing to stress. Support services such as help lines and mentor schemes are also available and information about these needs to be more accessible.

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Are work stressors related to employee substance use? The importance of temporal context assessments of alcohol and illicit drug use.

M R Frone (2007)

In this study, the author explored the relations of 2 work stressors (work overload and job insecurity) to employee alcohol use and illicit drug use. The primary goal was to explore the importance of temporal context (before work, during the workday, and after work) in the assessment of substance use compared with context-free (overall) assessments. Data were collected from a national sample of U.S. workers (N = 2,790) who took part in a broad cross-sectional survey on workplace health and safety. Consistent with past research, the results fail to support a relation between work stressors and overall measures of alcohol and illicit drug use. However, the results support the relation of work stressors to alcohol and illicit drug use before work, during the workday, and after work. These results provide support for both the stress-induced substance use and stress response dampening propositions of the tension-reduction hypothesis. When exploring the work environment as a potential cause of employee substance use, these results underscore the importance of measures that assess alcohol and illicit drug use in terms of their temporal relation to the workday. 2008 APA

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Occup Med Toxicol

Title: Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology (London, England)

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1745-6673

Publication date Collection: 2009

Publication date (Electronic): 25 February 2009

Volume: 4

Page: 4

Affiliations

[1 ]Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare Services, Department of Occupational Health Research, Pappelallee 35-37, 22089 Hamburg, Germany

[2 ]Faculty of Business and Social Work, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Saarlandstrasse 30, 22303 Hamburg, Germany

Article

Publisher ID: 1745-6673-4-4

DOI: 10.1186/1745-6673-4-4

PMC ID: 2651184

PubMed ID: 19243579

SO-VID: 6f584380-cde6-4a2a-9cd3-a51ca2c27c80

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 4 December 2008

Date accepted : 25 February 2009

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Psychosocial stress, demoralization and the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and medical drugs by veterinarians

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Abstract

Background

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Conclusion

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Tobacco Prevention & Cessation

Most cited references 33

The CAGE questionnaire: validation of a new alcoholism screening instrument.

Work-related stress in the veterinary profession in New Zealand.

Are work stressors related to employee substance use? The importance of temporal context assessments of alcohol and illicit drug use.

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