Integrating resources for well-being in veterinary students and graduates: contextualizing contemporary literature.

Abstract

Mental ill-being in veterinary professionals is well described, and there are decades of scholarship and strategies aimed at preventing these outcomes. These efforts are impactful and important, but there is a critical need to balance the prevention of mental ill-being with the promotion of mental well-being in veterinary students and graduates. In 2017, the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education challenged veterinary scholars and educators to use positive psychology to foster and understand professional well-being. This literature review includes papers that accepted this challenge: descriptive peer-reviewed studies published between 2017 and 2024 that evaluate positive mental health outcomes in veterinary students and graduates. Twenty studies (quantitative, n = 12; qualitative, 7; and mixed, 1) evaluating students (13), graduates (6), or both (1) are included. The results of these studies are assimilated to (1) describe resources for well-being, (2) highlight discrepancies between the reported importance of these resources, and (3) provide 4 opportunities to integrate resources for well-being including professional competencies, mentorship, promoting help seeking, and leveraging student and graduate motivators. Overall, this literature review contextualizes our understanding of strategies that promote veterinary professional well-being and balances the deficit-minded narrative that has dominated our understanding of veterinary student and graduate mental health for decades. However, meaningful attention to student or graduate identity is notably lacking. Veterinary students and graduates are not monolithic, and future work must disaggregate student identity when considering strategies for well-being to promote true equity in veterinary student and graduate well-being.