ArticlePloS one2024
Professional quality of life in animal research personnel is linked to retention & job satisfaction: A mixed-methods cross-sectional survey on compassion fatigue in the USA.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Caring, killing and an always busy schedule: a cross-sectional study on stress and strain in laboratory animal professionals in German-speaking countries.Laboratory animals · 2026Article
- Identification of Compassion Fatigue Risk Profiles in Veterinarians: Implications for Prevention and Professional Well-Being.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Best Practices for Supporting Professional Identity Formation during Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Training.Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2025Article
- The Impact of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Organisational Justice on Global Health and Turnover Intentions in Animal Care Workers.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Building resilience in animal research: a two-year mixed methods survey of organizational support programs.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Creative pedagogic methods for self-guided embodied thinking and learning about animal research.Wellcome open research · 2025Article
- Fostering culture of care for early career researchers-Building a trustful environment: Insights from a German perspective.PloS one · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWorking with research animals can be both rewarding and challenging. The rewarding part of the work is associated with understanding the necessity for animal research to improve the health of humans and animals and the knowledge that one can provide care and compassion for the animals. Challenges with animal research include witnessing stress/pain in animals necessitated by scientific requirements, end of study euthanasia, and societal stigmatization about animal research. These challenges could be compounded with more general workplace stresses, in turn, impacting job retention and satisfaction. However, these factors have yet to be formally evaluated. Therefore, the purpose of this survey was to comprehensively evaluate professional quality of life's correlation with key workplace metrics.
methodsSix institutions were recruited to participate in a longitudinal intervention trial on compassion fatigue resiliency. This manuscript reports key baseline metrics from this survey. A cross-sectional mixed methods survey was developed to evaluate professional quality of life, job satisfaction, retention, and factors influencing compassion fatigue resiliency. Quantitative data were analyzed via general linear models and qualitative data were analyzed by theme.
resultsBaseline data was collected from 198 participants. Personnel who reported higher compassion satisfaction also reported higher retention and job satisfaction. Conversely, personnel who reported higher burnout also reported lower job satisfaction. In response to open-ended questions, participants said their compassion fatigue was impacted by institutional culture (70% of participants), animal research (58%), general mental health (41%), and specific compassion fatigue support (24%).
conclusionsIn conclusion, these results show that professional quality of life is related to important operational metrics of job satisfaction and retention. Furthermore, compassion fatigue is impacted by factors beyond working with research animals, including institutional culture and general mental health support. Overall, this project provides rationale and insight for institutional support of compassion fatigue resiliency.
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