Fig. 2. Distribution of AAEP respondents’ mental health condition by graduation year (page 373 of report).
disability (2.1%). About 16% of respondents had been hospitalized for a work-related injury and 20.3% had undergone some kind of surgery for an injury. Male equine practitioners reported higher rates of hospitalization and surgery than females. About two-thirds of both male and female respon-
dents reported recent pain that was “mild” or “very mild.” A little more than one-fourth reported pain that was moderate to severe. Half of respondents said that pain did not interfere with their normal work, but there was a small minority that reported pain that caused major interference. This group tended to be older.
Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL): Responses from Equine Practitioners
The ProQOL, a survey instrument widely used in social science, was embedded in the survey instru-
ment.2 Respondent answers to the ProQOL survey questions were tabulated to measure compassion satisfaction (CS; pleasure derived from helping oth- ers) and compassion fatigue (CF; the negative effects of working in a helping profession) of each respon- dent. CF was further rated by standardized sub- scales that grade a respondents’ scores for burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS). Group re- sults were tabulated to compare equine practitio- ners to the general veterinary population and to other professionals. Mean scores for CS in equine respondents were in
the high normal range (37.5), implying that as a group, most equine veterinary professionals derive more pleasure from the helping aspect of their job than members of other professions (Fig. 5). The equine respondents also scored slightly higher (1.1 points) than the AVMA group. However, a small
Fig. 3. Distribution of AAEP respondents’ physical and mental health condition by gender (page 367 of report). AAEP PROCEEDINGS Vol. 65 2019 75
