| OBJECTIVE
To examine the role of veterinary team effectiveness and elements of personal empathy in veterinary personnel’s self-reported compassion satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and job satisfaction.
DESIGN Cross-sectional observational study. SAMPLE POPULATION 10 companion animal veterinary practices from two regions of the United States. PROCEDURES 232 team members participated in an online survey. The Team Effectiveness Instrument measured coordinated team environment, team engagement, individual engagement, and toxic team environment. The Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index assessed components of empathy (i.e., perspective taking, fantasy scale, empathetic concern, and personal distress). The Professional Quality of Life Scale evaluated compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Job satisfaction was measured with a single item. Demographic characteristics, team effectiveness and empathy subscales were investigated using mixed models for associations with professional quality of life and job satisfaction. RESULTS Individual engagement was positively associated with job satisfaction, negatively associated with secondary traumatic stress, and moderated by levels of personal distress for compassion satisfaction and burnout. Toxic environment was positively associated with burnout and negatively associated with job satisfaction. Empathetic concern and personal distress were both positively associated secondary traumatic stress. Empathetic concern was moderated by team engagement for compassion satisfaction. CONCLUSION AND CLINCAL RELEVANCE Factors influencing professional quality of life and job satisfaction appear multimodal and include aspects of team effectiveness and empathy. Assessing the workplace to develop strategies which promote individual and team engagement while alleviating a toxic work environment has the potential to improve veterinary personnel’s professional quality of life and job satisfaction. Authors:
PIZZOLAN, Christina1, COE, Jason1, *SHAW, Jane2
1. Department of Population Medicine
Ontario Veterinary College
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, CANADA
(519) 824-4120 ext 54010
Christina N. Pizzolon: cpizzolo@uoguelph.ca
Jason B. Coe: jcoe@uoguelph.ca
2. Department of Clinical Sciences
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
(970) 297-4007
jane.shaw@colostate.edu
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