Participants sought for stress management study
The project will examine the use of stress management practice and organisational wellbeing initiatives.
Researchers have called for participants to join a new study into stress management within veterinary work.
Prof Elinor O’Connor and Dr Kevin Teoh will conduct the project, funded by RCVS’ Mind Matters Initiative (MMI), to identify how stress management initiatives are incorporated on an organisational level in veterinary settings. The project is funded by the MMI’s Mind Matters Impact Grant, which was awarded to the researchers in 2025.
The project will examine the use of stress management practices, used to develop a worker’s ability to cope with stress, as well as organisational wellbeing initiatives.
These organisational initiatives intend to target the source of stress within the workplace. This includes changes to how work is arranged and managed, such as rota systems, workload management and team support.
It will be led by Prof O’Connor, professor of work psychology at the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School, and Dr Teoh, senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Birkbeck, University of London.
The main focus of the study will be on organisational wellbeing initiatives, with the aim of examining stress management in relation to veterinary work. The researchers wish to hear examples of organisational stress management and wellbeing initiatives implemented into the veterinary workplace.
Participants are invited if they have worked in the UK veterinary sector, and have been involved with an organisational wellbeing initiative in the past three years. Participation is open to any role in the veterinary sector, including clinical staff, animal care assistants and receptionists.
The research will involve an online, individual interview, lasting approximately an hour at a time convenient to the participant. It is entirely confidential and has been approved by the University of Manchester’s Research Ethics Committee.
Those interested can email elinor.oconnor@manchester.ac.uk for more information.
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Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
