Leading research at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) is contributing greatly to current understandings of mental health and well-being in the veterinary profession, and the agricultural community.
Evidence shows veterinarians, student veterinarians and farmers to be at increased risk for psychological distress and mental illness.
Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, Director of Well-Being Programming and professor in OVC’s Department of Population Medicine, has partnered with colleagues across multiple disciplines to research mental health and well-being in these at-risk populations.
Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton
“Given the extent to which the veterinary and farming populations provide for society, and given the extent of occupational stressors they face,” Jones-Bitton shares, “Our research is imperative to better understand the underlying issues and find new ways to help these communities.”
To further this work, Jones-Bitton is working on numerous projects focused on well-being:
Jones-Bitton and former PhD student – now Post-Doctoral Fellow - Dr. Briana Hagen, are collaborating to produce research that will inform agricultural policy and programming within local, provincial and federal organizations and at the government level.
The team recently released an evidence-informed Emergency Response model to support farmer mental health during times of crisis, which has since been used by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Farm Credit Canada.
They have also created a mental health literacy training program specific to Canadian agriculture, partnering with multiple organizations to make this training available in agricultural communities across Canada. This program is titled “In the Know” and features in-person sessions delivered by a mental health professional to farmers, or those working primarily with farmers. “In the Know” was found to significantly improve participants’ self-reported mental health knowledge and confidence in recognizing mental health struggles, speaking to others, and helping others who are struggling.
The Ontario division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Keystone Agricultural Producers of Manitoba have since partnered with the “In the Know” program to deliver the training to rural communities in Ontario and Manitoba, respectively. Additional partnerships are being finalized with other provinces across Canada.
Jones-Bitton is also leading a team with Dr. Basem Gohar, Department of Psychology at UofG, Dr. Ryan Appleby in OVC’s Clinical Studies, Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science at the University of Toronto and OVC Masters student Hayley McKee, to explore the psychosocial work demands of faculty, staff, residents and interns at the OVC. This research will improve knowledge of the work demands experienced within the OVC community and will help to inform well-being related programming.
In another project, Anastasia Chouvalova, an undergraduate student at UofG, is exploring well-being interventions shown to improve mental health in student veterinarians under Jones-Bitton’s supervision. Together, they are working with the OVC Associate Dean, Students and Academic (ASDA) team to explore ways to incorporate these interventions into the DVM curriculum and conduct follow-up research to investigate the outcomes in the OVC student body.
OVC Masters students, Megan Campbell and Karli Longthorne, are also working with Jones-Bitton to further explore the lived experience of veterinarian mental health and the associated impacts on veterinarians and the provision of care. This work will help to improve understanding of mental health in the veterinary profession and inform recommendations for veterinary teams.
Research on farmer mental health and well-being was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance; Egg Farmers of Ontario; Ontario Pork; Ontario Sheep Farmers; and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Mental health and well-being of OVC staff and faculty research was funded by the College. OVC Pet Trust and a gift from Zoetis Canada helped to fund research on the lived experience of veterinarian mental health.