Compassion Fatigue in Laboratory Animal Personnel during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Compassion Fatigue (CF) is commonly observed in professions associated with human and animal care. The COVID-19 pandemic compelled laboratory animal research institutions to implement new work practices in order to maintain essential animal care operations. These modifications ranged from shift changes to last-resort measures, such as culling animal colonies, to accommodate reduced staffing. Such changes could cause personnel to experience increased stress, isolation, and helplessness—all of which can increase CF risk. In the current study, 200 persons involved with animal research completed an online survey to gauge whether CF among laboratory animal personnel had increased during the pandemic. The survey examined professional quality of life, self-assessed levels of CF, institutional changes, perceived changes in animal welfare, and institutional measures intended to alleviate CF. A total of 86% of participants had experienced CF at some point in their career, with 41% experiencing a CF event (new or worsening symptoms of CF) during the pandemic. In addition, 90% of participants who reported a CF event also reported subsequent effects on their personal or professional lives. Health, employment, and animal-related stress that arose due to the pandemic were all found to influence CF scores significantly. Although 96% of respondents were considered essential workers, 67% did not feel as valued for their work as other essential personnel. Furthermore, 88% of personnel responsible for the euthanasia of healthy animals who experienced a CF event reported that CF also affected their personal life, professional life, or both, and 78% responded that interventions from internal CF programs or leadership did not help to alleviate symptoms of CF. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant institutional changes will likely have lasting effects on persons and organizations. By determining and subsequently mitigating sources of CF, we can better assist the laboratory animal community during future crises.

A Preliminary Assessment of Compassion Fatigue in Chimpanzee Caregivers

“…The email asked them to share the survey link with others and on social media to create a snowball effect. This method of recruitment was similar to that of other studies that assessed ProQOL in animal care workers [ 10 , 19 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. It was designed to maintain anonymity and ensure participants did not feel coerced by employers.…”

“…Figure 1 shows the percentage of scores in the categories of high, medium, and low in various animal caregiving occupations including chimpanzee caregivers from this study. Thurston [ 21 ] surveyed 170 animal laboratory workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had impacts on the animal care community. This online survey included veterinarians, veterinary nurses, and husbandry technicians but did not indicate which species.…”

“…It was chosen for comparison because of the impacts of COVID-19 also may have affected chimpanzee caregivers at the time of data collection in this study. Despite the additional stress of the pandemic [ 21 , 28 ] many of these laboratory workers had high levels of CS. Scotney and colleagues [ 12 ] surveyed 229 animal care workers from a variety of occupations such as veterinarian practices, research technicians, and shelter workers.…”

“…That committee requires that surveys which are anonymous utilize Qualtrics. Online surveys were used in several other studies of CF in animal care workers [ 10 , 19 , 21 , 22 ]. Participants provided informed consent to initiate the survey.…”

“…It is prevalent and concerning in veterinarians who perform euthanasia and witness cruelty [ 10 , 12 , 18 , 19 ]. It has extended to other kinds of animal care workers including nonhuman animals care workers shelter workers, wildlife rehabilitators, laboratory workers, and primate caregivers [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. To date only one published article has evaluated CF in non-human primate (NHP) caregivers.…”