9 Nov 2020
Scotland’s Rural College launches website to aid farm vets in coping with daily challenges after receiving a £20,000 grant from the RCVS’ Mind Matters Initiative.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Image © Monkey Business / Adobe Stock
A website to help vets cope with daily challenges of farm animal practice has been launched by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).
The How Farm Vets Cope website was inspired by accounts of vets’ experiences, as well as research about the profession’s stress and mental health, and the challenges of farm practice.
The website includes written and audio quotes from vets under different categories, including how to advise farmers, dealing with difficulties and conflicts, and managing time and expectations. It also provides a range of options and resources for coping with stress.
A future project could see an interactive map added to the website, allowing app users to connect to each other.
Project lead Kate Stephen, a behavioural scientist at SRUC’s epidemiology research unit, said: “We are indebted to the farm vets who contributed to this project. We would like to thank every farm vet who was interviewed, those who took part in the workshop and who provided feedback at the alpha testing stage.
“It has been an immense privilege for our team to have been given such an insight into the very personal, sometimes painful, experiences described during interviews. It has also been interesting to hear about the most satisfying aspects of their work and inspiring to hear how farm vets cope with the challenges they face.”
The project was made possible by the development of the inaugural Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant, named after an elected RCVS council member who died in 2017. The team at SRUC has been invited to present its research findings at the biennial Mind Matters Initiative Research Symposium in 2021.
