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| What is happiness (apart from a dog on a beach)? |
Veterinary educators teach students how to be
veterinarians, but a recent paper written by Dr Martin Cake (surely one of the
best names ever) and colleagues suggests that perhaps we don’t spend enough
time teaching people why they should
be veterinarians. We assume that that is established when they decide to apply
to study veterinary science.
The paper also suggests that the recent emphasis on
self-care, which is very important, might have some unintended negative effects
– essentially teaching “why not” to
be a veterinarian. This emphasis on preventative strategies
“…risks unnecessarily demonizing their future profession, ignoring the fact that many of the known stressors for veterinarians (e.g., long working hours) are generic to all professions and are malleable through good working practices. Due to the power of human attention bias, excessive emphasis on preventative self-care paradoxically risks fostering a negative work concept…and sensitizing students to mental distress and burnout.”
This is certainly consistent with feedback from
veterinary students and something I’ve kept in mind when teaching and blogging (although I am also aware that my most read posts pertain to concerns about stress, burnout and lack of self care in veterinarians). But this
paper goes much further than simply making that observation. It reviews the
literature and reminds that the majority of veterinarians surveyed report being
satisfied or happy in their roles.
Which raises the question, what is happiness? And how does one get there? For the
author’s purposes, the definition of happiness as a transient pleasurable
sensation misses much of the meaning to be found in veterinary practice.
Rather, the philosophical concept of Eudaimonia, traceable to Aristotle’s idea
that the highest happiness occurs when one achieves one’s potential.
Sure, our work is unpredictable, there are multiple
occupational hazards and in many cases relatively low financial rewards. But
there are things our work features which aren’t present in all work settings:
variety of cases and required skills, start-to-finish involvement in tasks,
task significance, varying degrees of autonomy and varying degrees of feedback. There are loads of opportunity to get into the flow of things. These things facilitate Eudaimonia.
The authors argue that to realise Eudaimonia
veterinarians (and others) also need a swag of tools
- Self-awareness
- Personal congruence (where work aligns with personal values)
- Reflective practice
- Autonomy and self-efficacy
- Optimism and gratitude
The fabulous news is that these tools, defined and
elaborated in the paper, can be taught.
Ultimately, the authors argue, in teaching future
veterinarians we should be careful not to present occupational stress as an
intrinsic condition of the profession but as a manageable risk. Being a vet is
associated with both stress and distress
as well as eudaimonic wellbeing and fulfillment, and can in fact increase
lifetime wellbeing.
This is one of the most uplifting papers I’ve read, and I
love that the answer to the question of the meaning of life is answered in the
title: a life of meaning.
Reference
